Family Ties
by hxchick
Summary: Years ago, Dave and Erin had an affair that resulted in a child. What does Erin want from her and will it destroy everything Dave has worked so hard to build? OC, slightly AU.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 1

**~Okay, this is NOT the next story in the Unconventional Family and Happily Ever After series, it's a stand-alone mini epic. The next story in the "Rossi Family Universe" probably won't be posted for another month or two, but this story will be kind of similar, so please give it a try. **

**~Timeline: Everyone is their same cannon age and this story starts about a month before the episode 'To Hell...And Back'. **

* * *

As David Rossi walked from his office to the break room, there was a spring in his step and he whistled a happy tune. His thirteen year old daughter was returning from two months in Italy that evening and he couldn't wait to see her. He couldn't believe how fast the time had gone; it seemed like he had just put her on the plane yesterday and now suddenly she was returning from her summer trip.

He felt bad about sending her away for so long but his dad, who had recently moved back to Italy, had been clamoring for them to come for a visit since the day his feet had hit Italian soil. Dave finally relented and made arrangements for his daughter to spend most of the summer in the countryside of Italy, all the while planning on coming out for her birthday in mid-July. Unfortunately, because of the never ending cases, he hadn't made it to Europe and he had missed yet another one of his daughter's birthdays, in this case a milestone birthday as it had marked her official transition from tween to teenager.

As he thought about what her age meant, Dave gave a sigh; the tween years hadn't been too bad, at least Janet had been alive to help him with most of those pitfalls, but the teen years…God, from all of the books he'd read and the stories he'd heard, well, he wasn't exactly looking forward to them but he knew he would get through them…somehow.

"Today's the day, isn't it?" His boss and best friend asked as he entered the break area. "She gets home this afternoon, right?"

Dave smiled, "Her plane is due to arrive at National in about two hours."

Hotch smiled as he heard the excitement in his friend's voice, "So I'm guessing you'll be leaving early?"

Dave nodded, "All of my case files are completed and my conference call with Denver PD was cancelled, apparently they caught their serial rapist this morning." He paused and took a swig of his coffee. "I gotta say, I missed her more than I thought I would. When she first left, I thought I would love having a clean and quiet house and I do, but I also miss having her around and if the messes and the music come with that, then I'll take them."

Even though work had kept him away for many of the milestones in her life, Dave was close with his daughter Katie and he had missed her presence much more than he thought he would. Ever since his wife Janet had died, almost two years ago, it had been just the two of them and they had grown close, both sharing in the grief that came from losing a loved one. Katie had lost her mother and Dave had lost his soul mate and it had taken them awhile to get through their mourning, but they had done it together and it had created a much stronger father-daughter bond.

"Who would've thought that the Great David Rossi could be brought to his knees by a twelve…no, now thirteen year-old girl?" Hotch asked, still smiling.

"Oooh, are you talking about Katie Rossi, the mystery girl?" Garcia asked as she and JJ entered the break room. "Are we _ever_ going to meet this daughter of yours?"

Dave shook his head, "Let it go, Garcia, it's not going to happen."

Most of the team had been clamoring to meet his daughter since he'd rejoined the team after his first retirement, but Dave wouldn't let it happen; he did NOT want her to be tainted by what he did. Sure, she knew he worked grisly cases but she never knew much about them and he wanted to keep it that way and if he had to keep her away from the BAU altogether to do so, then that's what he would do. More importantly, Dave also needed one thing in his life that he didn't associate with work and he was afraid if Katie met the team and got chummy with them, then he would think of her whenever he saw them. He knew Hotch and JJ kept their kids away from the BAU for the very same reason.

The only reason Hotch knew Katie was because they had been friends for so long and it would have been weird for him _not_ to know her. Besides, after Janet died, Hailey had offered to watch Katie while he was out in the field and the two had grown close. Hailey had been a Godsend; she was able to navigate all of the 'girl stuff' that he would have been horrible at. Janet died when Katie was eleven, so she'd had all of the basic talks with their daughter, but Hailey had delivered the more in-depth 'my changing body' speech to Katie and for that, Dave was eternally grateful. It's not that he _wouldn't _have done it; it's just that it saved both him and his daughter from a life-scarring discussion.

"Come _on_, Agent Rossi! How can you deny me my BAU niece? It's cruel and unusual punishment," Garcia said with a pout.

Dave just shook his head and left the break room, carrying his precious, caffeinated brew. By all rights, the team should have met Katie when Janet died, but his wife had been specific about not wanting a big funeral, so in the end he and Katie, along with Janet's brother, had gone to her favorite spot in the woods and they had scattered her ashes there. As a result, Katie was still a mystery to the majority of the team.

As he entered his office, he tried to shift his train of thought back to the never-ending pile paperwork that was on his desk and he sat down with the intention of completing it. His plans changed as he looked to the rear of his office and saw his section chief sitting on the sofa.

"Jesus Christ, Erin, you scared the hell out of me!" He snapped; the absolute last thing he needed was to go twelve rounds with her before picking his daughter up from the airport.

"We need to talk, David."

"About what?" He asked. "Like I told Aaron, my consultations are finished, I'm almost done with my paperwork and the conference call with Denver was cancelled."

"This isn't about work," she told him.

"Then what is it about?" He asked with barley veiled contempt in his voice. "What exactly do we need to discuss?"

"Our daughter," she responded.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 2

* * *

"Don't you mean MY daughter, Erin?" Dave asked stiffly. "I seem to recall that she ceased being _your _daughter less than an hour after she was born. Isn't that how long it took you to sign your rights away?"

"David-" Strauss tried to interrupt, but Dave wouldn't let her.

"But since you never wanted her in the first place, since you nearly had her removed from your body when you were less than six weeks pregnant with her, since I had to beg you not to KILL her, I guess I should be grateful you even let her come into existence!"

"You're right David, okay? I shouldn't have called her that, she's clearly YOUR daughter!" Strauss said loudly, trying to calm the irate profiler.

"Alright then, why do we need to talk about _my_ daughter?" He asked trying to ignore the sense of foreboding in his gut; he knew nothing good was going to come from this conversation.

"What is her blood type?" Erin asked and Dave was surprised enough that he answered without comment.

"A negative, why?"

"Thank God," Erin muttered in relief and then looked up at Dave. "My middle child, Clara, has aplastic anemia."

"Jesus Erin, I had no idea," Dave said in a softer voice.

Strauss nodded, "Up until now, blood transfusions and medications have worked to keep her somewhat healthy, but her disease is progressing and the doctor told me she needs a bone marrow transplant in order to survive. In order to lessen the chances of rejection, her best bet would be to receive marrow from a blood relative, but, unfortunately, my other daughters and I are not a match for Clara."

"And?" Dave prodded, not liking the direction this conversation was going.

"And, since your daughter is at least a half-blood relative and she's the same blood type as Clara, she may be a potential bone marrow match."

"Are you telling me," Dave began slowly, trying to keep his anger under control, "that you want me to risk my daughter's life in order to save your daughter's life? Are you seriously asking me to permit my daughter to undergo an invasive medical procedure as a favor to you?"

"First of all, the procedure would be low-risk to Katie. All told, she would probably spend one night in the hospital and then another 2-3 days recuperating and, yes, the procedure involves some pain, but-"

"No! No buts!" Dave yelled. "You have some nerve even _asking_ me to _consider_ this!"

"I know you hate me David and, believe me, the feeling is very much mutual, but do you really want to punish my nine year old daughter for our past mistakes?"

"Did you just refer to my daughter as a mistake?" He asked in a lethal voice.

"No, no, of course not," Erin backtracked, knowing that any hope of saving her daughter's life rested in her former lover's hands. "What I meant was-"

"She doesn't know about you, Erin," Dave said in a calmer voice, but inside he was panicking. No, he didn't want Erin's nine year old to die from her disease, but he also didn't want to turn his thirteen year old daughter's life upside down. "Janet and I agreed she was better off not knowing about you and the circumstances that led to her conception and birth and, if I remember correctly, you were in firm agreement with that."

"I was, but things have changed David, my daughter is sick and your daughter may be the only person who can help her! I know these aren't the best of circumstances, and I know she will be upset when you tell her-" Once again, Dave interrupted his section chief.

"Upset? She's going to be way beyond upset, Erin! She's coming into her teen years and I need her to be able to talk to me, to confide in me, to TRUST me and this is going to blow all of that out of the water!" Dave couldn't believe this was happening now, of all times! Sure, he knew he would have to eventually tell Katie about her biological mother, she would need that for a complete health history, but he'd hoped it would be far in the future, preferably when he was on his deathbed.

"I'm truly sorry David, but my daughter needs help now," Strauss said firmly. "So are _you_ going to have her tested, or are you going to force _me_ to get a court order to have her tested?"

Dave, who had begun to feel a trace amount of sympathy for his section chief, felt the sympathy turn to fury. "Are you threatening me, Erin? We both know I don't do well with ultimatums."

Erin, who was also starting to get pissed off at that point, said, "It's not a threat, it's a promise. There is NOTHING I won't do for my daughter!"

"Well it's good to hear you can love at least one of them," he spat. The two of them just glared at each other for a moment before Dave finally relented; he knew he couldn't punish an innocent child for her mother's mistakes. "Fine, I'll talk to Katie, but I need some time."

"My daughter doesn't have the luxury of time, David."

"And _my_ daughter is just returning from two months away from me, Erin and I need a little time to reconnect with her before I shatter her world. I'm only asking for ten days."

"Fine," Strauss agreed begrudgingly, "But if I don't hear from you, on day eleven I'll file for a court order, so she'll learn about things one way or another."

"I get it, Erin," Dave said through clenched teeth, remembering the rule his father taught him about never hitting a woman.

Strauss stood up, "As long as we understand each other then," she said before she left his office.

Once she was gone, Dave let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. God how he loathed that woman! She was the one thing that made him second-guess his decision about coming out of retirement.

Of course, he knew the situation wasn't entirely her fault. He could have, no he _should _have had this talk with Katie much sooner…hell, he shouldn't have hidden it from her at all, but he'd never wanted her to know that her biological mother hadn't wanted her, that she had planned to abort her. It was only because of his begging that Erin hadn't gone through with her plans to rid herself of their child and he never wanted Katie to feel unwanted.

As he sat with his head in his hands, Dave realized that it was almost time to pick his daughter up from the airport. He quickly packed his briefcase and stepped out of his office, closing the door behind him.

"Hey, what did Strauss want?" Hotch inquired, stepping out of his own office.

"Nothing good," Dave said with a sigh as he shook his head.

"Should I be worried?" His boss asked, wondering if the she-demon was once again trying to break up the team.

"No, it's not about work, it was personal. Look Aaron, I've got to go get Katie from the airport, can we talk about this later?"

"Sure," Hotch replied, "How about over dinner? Hailey tried calling you, but you were in with Strauss and you didn't answer. She wants you and Katie to come for supper tonight and, since it's my night with Jack and Jack also wants to see Katie, I'm invited as well."

Dave smiled at that; for awhile he wondered if his unit chief and ex-wife would ever be able to be in the same room together, but after their divorce they'd slowly repaired their relationship and had become friends again. While Dave knew that nothing romantic would ever happen between the two, it was nice to see them acting amicably towards each other.

"Tell Hailey we'll be there; I'm sure Katie is dying to see you guys too," Dave said. "And I'll fill you in on the situation with Strauss. In fact, I may need your legal advice about it."

"Can't wait," Hotch said dryly, wondering what kind of jam his friend had gotten into.

Dave just smiled and made his way through the bullpen and to the elevators; his little girl was finally coming home and he wasn't going to let anything ruin it.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 3

**~Wow, I'm happy with the positive response this story has gotten, especially since the pairing is not a CM favorite. Thanks to everyone for your reviews! Reviews = Love :-)**

**~You can now find me on Facebook! Search for Hx Chick...my picture is the same one I use here. A bunch of us CM fanfic authors are having a bunch of fun over there! If you send me a friend request, please put your fanfic username in the message so I know who you are.**

* * *

Dave tapped his foot impatiently as he watched the never-ending stream of passengers exit the jet way; he knew he was seconds away from having his daughter home and he couldn't wait to see her. Since she was thirteen she was an 'unaccompanied minor' and she had to wait to leave the plane with one of the flight attendants. Because of that, she was one of the last people to leave the airplane. Finally, he saw her step into the gate area; she was chatting with a flight attendant and she looked tired.

"Katie Belle!" He called out. Ever since she was a small child and had seen the Disney version of _Beauty and the Beast_, Belle had been her favorite princess and, as a result, Dave's nickname for her was Katie Belle, or sometimes just Belle.

"Dad!" She yelled as she ran into his outstretched arms.

As he hugged her, Dave felt himself breathe easy for the first time in two months. She was finally home where she belonged. "I missed you so much," he said as he planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"I missed you too," she said into his chest. Was it possible she had grown since he'd last seen her? He finally released her and took a good look at her.

"Italy sure agreed with you," he said as he observed her tanned skin, her sun-lightened hair and lean figure.

"It was great! Grandpa and I spent most of the days outside in his small vineyard," she told him as the flight attendant joined them.

"I assume you're Kate's father?" She asked.

"I am," he assured her, pulling out his FBI credentials so she could verify his identity. The attendant made sure everything was in order and then left Katie with Dave.

"Let's go hit baggage claim," he suggested as he picked up her carry-on bag and swung it over his shoulder. He wrapped his free arm around her shoulder and walked with her to get her luggage.

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An hour later, after many stories about the Italian countryside, Dave pulled his SUV into the garage of their Alexandria townhome. Katie gave a big yawn as she got out and she went to get her luggage from the back of the truck, but her dad beat her to it.

"I know someone, other than me, who missed you while you were gone," he said as he unlocked the door that led into the house.

Katie grinned as she heard an excited 'woof' from behind the door. As her dad opened it, a furry, four legged bundle of energy ran out to greet her.

"Mudgie!" She exclaimed as she knelt on the ground to hug the large dog. The chocolate lab greeted his young companion with slobbery kisses and exuberant barking. Finally, with the help of her dad, Katie was able to stand up and walk into the house. "There's no place like home," she said, "especially after a twelve hour plane ride."

"At least you were in first class. That should have been somewhat comfortable, right?" He asked as he poured her a large glass of water. Being a frequent traveler, Dave knew how easy it was to become dehydrated from the dry air in the airplanes.

Katie nodded as she drank. "It _was _comfortable, but I can't wait to sleep in my own bed."

"We're going to Hailey's for dinner tonight, so don't get too comfortable," he told her. "I barely have any food in the house."

"So I noticed," his daughter observed as she scrounged through the empty cabinets for a snack. "Did you forage in the woods for your meals while I was gone?"

Dave snorted, "No, I was really busy and there wasn't enough time to cook decent meals between cases. Speaking of which, I'm really sorry I missed your birthday, honey."

"That's okay dad, I'm used to it," she said nonchalantly as she took a bite of a somewhat stale cookie. Although she hadn't said it maliciously, her word cut through Dave's heart; she _was _used to him missing her birthdays…hell, he'd only been there for five or six of them, the rest of the time he had either been busy with cases or out on book tours.

"It's _not_ okay, I should've been there," he told her.

"But it was fun anyway," she said. "Grandpa and I met up with Uncle Eddie in Rome and we ate a really fancy meal and Uncle Eddie let me have a glass of wine!"

Dave made a mental note to have a chat about appropriate dinner beverages for his daughter the next time he talked to his brother. As he listened to her talk about her birthday in Rome, Dave glanced at the clock and noticed how late it was. "Come on," he said, we'd better get going, we don't want to miss one of Hailey's fabulous dinners."

Katie yawned and followed her dad back out to the car. As grateful as she was to be getting a home cooked meal that night, she would much rather be sleeping off her jet-lag.

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The next two hours went by quickly for Dave and Katie. After the happy reunion between Hotchners and Katie, the five of them sat down to a nice meal. Hailey had everything prepared and ready to go when they got there because she knew the teen would be exhausted after her trip and she didn't want her to have to wait around for the meal to cook.

After dinner, Katie offered to help with the cleanup, but Jack dragged her into the living room to watch one of the _Toy Story_ movies with him and being as tired as she was, Katie didn't protest. Once the kids were out of the room, the adults began the clean up process.

"Do you want to tell me what Strauss was doing in your office today?" Hotch asked as he unloaded the dishwasher. He may not have lived there anymore, but he still knew where all of the dishes went.

"Not really, but I'm going to have to," Dave said with a sigh. "Hailey, you'll probably want to join in on this conversation."

Hailey looked surprised as she took a seat next to Dave at the breakfast bar; normally when the guys talked shop, she left the room as she didn't want to hear about office politics, national security or any of the cases they worked.

"Did you know one of Strauss's daughters is ill?" Dave asked Hotch.

"I heard something through the grapevine. She has some kind of anemia, right?"

Dave nodded, "Yeah and the kid needs a bone marrow transplant or else she'll die."

"Okay, so what does that have to do with you?" Hotch asked, somewhat confused.

Dave checked to make sure that neither Katie nor Jack was anywhere near the kitchen before he said, "The best candidate for the bone marrow donor is someone who is related by blood. Katie matches that description."

"What?" Hailey asked, shaking her head. "How is that possible?"

"Janet wasn't Katie's biological mother; Strauss is."

"Holy shit!" Hotch exclaimed.

"How is that even possible?" Hailey asked again.

"Let me start at the beginning," Dave said. "During my first stint at the BAU, almost fourteen years ago, Erin and I had an affair. It was right after Patty and I got divorced and I was looking for comfort anywhere I could find it. Erin was still married to Timothy at the time, but they were going through a rough patch and had separated. Erin assured me they were on the path to divorce, so we had a secret tryst. Needless to say, our relationship didn't last very long and we broke up about a month after everything started." He paused to both take a drink of wine and gauge his friend's responses to his story. When he saw they had no questions, he continued.

"About a month after we broke up, Erin came to me and told me she was pregnant. By this time, she and Tim had reconciled and she knew that carrying another man's baby would've wrecked all of that, so she planned on aborting the baby we had created; she was just letting me know in case word ever got out about it."

"Jesus," Hailey breathed. "How could she be so callous?"

"I don't know, but I begged and pleaded with her not to get rid of the baby. I promised that after it was born, I would take care of it; she could sign her parental rights away and never have to worry about the baby again. I also promised to help her financially while she was pregnant. While I wasn't as well off back then as I am now, my first book had just been published and it brought in a fair chunk of money. Erin finally agreed to have the baby. Since she had her husband and a daughter at home, she told them she was going deeply under cover for a year and wouldn't be able to see them and they believed her."

"I know Timothy Strauss and I can't believe he fell for that," Hotch commented.

"What can I say, Aaron? Love makes us do crazy things. Anyway, as soon as Katie was born, Strauss signed her rights away and never looked back at her. By that time, Janet and I had met and had fallen in love. Since she couldn't have children, it made sense for Janet to slide into the mother position for Katie and she did it quite easily. Hell, Janet was with me when I brought Katie home from the hospital. Soon after, she and I were married and she officially adopted Katie and the rest is history."

"Why didn't you ever tell Katie the truth?" Hailey asked. "Why didn't you tell her she was adopted by Janet?"

"I never wanted Katie to know that her own mother didn't want her. I knew I would have to tell her eventually, but I never wanted it to influence her sense of self-worth. I know it was wrong to keep it from her for all of these years, but I honestly thought Strauss was out of her life for good; she's never shown any interest in Katie since I returned to the BAU...she's never once asked about her. Who could've envisioned something like this happening?"

"Are you going to get her tested? Are you going to tell her the truth about her mother?" Hailey asked.

"I don't think I have much of a choice," Dave responded. "I can't let a little girl die because of my history with her mother. Besides, Erin threatened to get a court order to get Katie tested. Do you think she would have much of a case?" He directed this last question at Hotch.

Hotch thought for a minute, "Normally I would say no, a non-parent would have a hard time forcing a painful medical test on a minor, but honestly? I've seen Clara Strauss and she is a cute little girl and if Strauss paraded her around the right judge, she may very well be able to get a court order."

"Damn," Dave sighed. "I guess I'll have to tell her."

"It'll be okay, Dave," Hailey assured him. "Katie loves you so much and, yeah, it will be a shock for her and there will be feelings of anger, distrust and loss, but she'll eventually get over it."

"Thanks Hailey," Dave said gratefully and then he turned to his boss. "I'm going to need the next week off and by off, I mean totally off. No phone calls, no consultations, nothing. I want to reconnect with my daughter before I shatter her world."

"When are you going to tell her?" Hailey asked. "I want to know so I can be ready for a phone call from her."

"I'm going to take her to the cabin for the next five days, so I'll tell her when we get home on Thursday," he decided.

"Good luck with that," Hotch said sincerely. "And Dave? Don't worry about work, I'll have everything covered, you just focus on Katie."

"Thanks. Speaking of Katie, we should probably head home; she's pretty jet-lagged and I want her to get a good night's sleep before we head to the cabin tomorrow."

The adults made their way into the living room and found Katie dead asleep on the sofa.

"She fell asleep right after I pushed play, daddy," Jack said from his position on the floor. "She must be really tired."

"She is, buddy," Hotch said as he picked him up and swung him into his arms. "It's bedtime for Katie and it's bedtime for Jack."

"Okay daddy," Jack said, excited that his father would be tucking him in that night. After Hotch and Jack left the room, Dave and Hailey stared at Katie's sleeping form for a minute.

"How can I destroy her world?" He asked softly.

"You're not going to destroy anything," Hailey told him, "You're just going to…dent it."

Dave nodded sadly as he picked his teenage daughter up from the couch and started for the front door.

"I can walk," a groggy Katie mumbled into his chest.

"Go back to sleep, Belle," he said as he stepped through the front door. "I've got you."

"'Kay," she said and then fell back asleep. Dave laid her down across the back seat, buckled her in and then started for home. He knew the next week would change their lives forever.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 4

**~This might be it for the next few days as I am swamped with work for the summer course I'm taking.**

* * *

The next five days passed in a blur for Dave and Katie. They went to the cabin as planned and they filled the days with hiking, swimming, biking and playing fetch with Mudgie. The nights were filled with watching movies and playing board games. Since Katie had been gone for most of the summer, it had been nice for her and Dave to connect again and she was amazed that her dad had taken an entire week off just to spend with her.

Dave, who treasured their time together, went through the days with a sense of foreboding in the back of his mind; he was going to have to tell his daughter the truth about her mother soon and he knew it had the potential to ruin their relationship and he dreaded the very thought of that happening. He knew his daughter was a forgiving person, but he didn't know if she would be able to get past the deception that had been going on since the day she was born and, as a result, he kept putting off the inevitable.

Thursday finally dawned and Dave knew he had to tell Katie the truth that day. First of all, his deadline with Strauss was looming ahead and he did _not_ want Katie to find out the truth from her. Second, he was due back at work on Monday and he didn't want to drop the bomb on her and then run off to work, he wanted to be there for her so she could yell and scream at him and he wanted to be able to answer any questions she had and he wanted to give her ample time to process everything.

"Hey dad, ready to go?" His daughter's voice pulled him from his reverie and he looked up to find her leaning against his bedroom doorway holding a packed duffel bag.

He nodded as he zipped his own bag, "Yup," he said. "Ready to go."

"What are we going to do with Mudgie while we go shopping?" Katie asked as they walked down the stairs to the first floor of the cabin. "It's too hot for him to wait in the car."

"I thought we'd drop him, and our duffel bags, off at home and then hit the shops." Dave was taking her back to school shopping that day. It was a little early to be doing it, since school didn't start for another three weeks, but he since he was free and pretty much guaranteed not to be called out on a case, he thought they should get it done early. Besides, who knew if she would even be talking to him by the time school started?

"Okay," she agreed as they left the cabin and made their way to the SUV. Soon they were on the road heading back to Alexandria.

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Four hours later, they were standing in the middle of the shopping district in Alexandria and Dave was checking various items off of his list. "Okay, we got your casual clothes, dressy clothes and school uniforms, right?" Katie checked the bags and nodded as her dad continued, "You have new shoes a new watch and…um, Hailey will take you out next week to get underwear and stuff, okay?" He asked, turning slightly red.

Katie, who turned the same shade as her dad, nodded. No matter how close she was to him, he was still her _dad_ and there was no way she was going to go shopping with him to get new bras and panties.

Dave cleared his throat and continued down his list, "You have pens, pencils, notebooks, binders, markers, highlighters, glue, and folders. Did we miss anything?"

"Yeah, a computer for my room?" She asked hopefully.

"Nice try," Dave said. "The computer in the living room is fine for you." There was no WAY she was getting a computer for her bedroom, not when there were so many pedophiles that used the internet to troll for victims.

"Then I think we're good," she said.

"Okay, let's head home."

The drive to the townhouse was short and Dave felt his apprehension build with each mile travelled. Finally they pulled into the garage and got out; Dave carried all of the bags while Katie carried the pizza they'd picked up. Once inside they sat down at the table and wolfed down their meal as they discussed their day.

Once the pizza was pretty much gone, Katie stood up to take her bags up to her room but Dave stopped her. "Hey, can you sit back down? I need to talk to you."

The teen plopped back down in her seat. "What's up?" She asked, wondering if he was finally going to tell her why he decided to take some time off.

"We need to talk about our family," he said as he took a deep breath.

"Okay…" she responded, not sure of where the conversation was going to go.

"You know I love you right?"

"I know," Katie said, still confused and a little apprehensive.

"And you know your mom loved you with all of her heart," Dave said, wondering how he should tell her.

"Of course."

"Well Katie Belle, the thing is…well, your mom wasn't the woman who gave birth to you." He watched a look of confusion come over her face.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Your mom wasn't your biological mother, she adopted you soon after you were born," he said and he watched the look of confusion change to one of dawning.

"What?" She whispered after a minute, "I'm adopted?"

Dave shook his head, "Only by your mom; I'm your biological father."

There was silence for another few minutes while Katie processed the news and in those few minutes, Dave watched a range of emotions dance across her face.

"What...but…but if mom wasn't my real mom, then who is?" She asked and Dave could hear that she was near tears.

"First of all, your mom _was _your real mom; she might not have given birth to you but she couldn't have loved you more if you had grown inside of her," he told her but that seemed to frustrate her.

"You know what I mean! Who is my biological mother?" She asked, a bit louder this time.

"That's where it gets tricky," he said. "You know how I was married before I married your mom? Well, in between my last marriage and your mom, I met a woman and we had an…intense physical relationship and she ended up getting pregnant with you." He paused to make sure she understood the circumstances. "Honey, that woman is my boss."

Katie, who had been looking down at her lap, snapped her head up. "Your boss?" She repeated. "You mean the one you're always complaining about? The one whom you've called 'pure evil' on many occasions? The one you've wanted to strangle ever since you went back to work? You mean to tell me that bitch is my MOTHER?" Her voice had gotten louder with each word and by the time she got to the word 'mother,' Dave was sure the windows were rattling from her volume.

"First of all, watch your language, you know I hate it when you swear-" He started, but that made her angrier.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? After all you've told me, you're worried about my SWEARING? You destroyed my world yet God forbid I use the word 'bitch'!"

"Honey, I didn't destroy anything; this news doesn't change how much I love you or how much your mother loved you!"

"This news doesn't change anything? THIS NEWS CHANGES _EVERYTHING_! Don't you get it? SHE WASN'T MY MOTHER! Janet Rossi, the woman who taught me everything I know about being a good person is not my mother!" Dave could hear quite a bit of hysteria in her voice but it was to be expected.

"Janet Rossi WAS your mother! She was your mother legally and in every other way that counted. SHE was the one who taught you right from wrong, SHE was the one who taught you how to care about things and SHE loved you more than life itself!" He said loudly, hoping to penetrate the teen's brain.

"You'll forgive me if I don't believe a word you say, right? You know, since you've been LYING TO ME FOR THIRTEEN YEARS!"

"Honey, I wasn't lying to hurt you, I was lying to protect you-"

"To PROTECT ME? How is hiding the truth from me protecting me?" Katie yelled.

"I don't know, but I only had your best interests at heart," he said.

The room went silent for a few minutes as Katie tried to process everything she learned. Her face was red with anger and it was streaked with tears, her eyes looked like they were about to shoot fire and her body was stiff. As he watched her silently wipe her tears and shake her head in disbelief, he knew he had to say something to her.

"Honey-" he began, but Katie wouldn't let him speak.

"No…NO! _YOU_ never get to talk to me AGAIN! You LIED to me! Ever since I was a little girl, I always thought you were straight with me, but it turns out I was dead wrong! I can never believe ANYTHING that comes out of your mouth again!" She shrieked.

"Katie, I-" This time he was interrupted by the ringing of his phone and he could tell by the ringtone that it was someone from the BAU. "Honey, I have to take this call, okay?" She didn't even look at him as he stepped out of the kitchen.

"This had better be important, JJ," he snarled. "I specifically told Hotch I didn't want to be interrupted this week."

"I know, but Hotch told me to call you,' she said. "One of your cases is going to trial on Monday and he wants me to clarify a few of your notes in the file. Apparently it could make or break the case."

"Fine, but make it quick," he ordered hoping that with him out of the room, Katie would be able to process things a little faster.

As she heard her dad talk on the phone, Katie sat at the table in a daze, trying to recover from everything he had told her. As she sat there, she knew she couldn't recover…she couldn't stay in the house for another minute; there was somewhere she needed to go.

Without consciously thinking about it, she got up from the table, grabbed her small purse from among the many shopping bags and, without a word to her father, walked out the front door.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 5

* * *

From the moment she left the townhouse, Katie knew where she wanted to go; to her mother's house, her _biological _mother's house. She wanted to find her and ask her why she wasn't good enough for her, why she didn't care enough about her to keep her and why she and her father had kept everything a secret from her. She got exactly ten steps down the sidewalk before she realized she had no idea where the woman lived and she didn't know how to go about finding that information. Even if she had her cell phone with her, which she didn't, it wasn't a smart phone, so she couldn't look it up online. And it's not like she could call Hailey or Aaron; they would set her dad on her trail so fast it would make her head spin. Calling her dad's co-workers was out too because what was she supposed to say? "Hi, you don't know me, but can I have the home address of your boss? I have a few things I need to talk to her about." Yeah, right!

But what was she going to do? She couldn't go back to her house…she just couldn't spend any more time around her dad. She needed time to process things and if he was around, he would continue to try and justify his actions and she knew if he did that, she would eventually explode. As she continued walking, Katie finally figured out where she was going to go…it was the one place she could vent and not worry about getting into trouble for it. She checked her purse to make sure she had her Metro card in it and, to her relief, she did, so made her way down to the subway platform and onto the next train.

Back at the townhouse, Dave finally hung up with JJ after a twenty minute conversation about his case notes. Taking a deep breath, he went back into the kitchen for round two with Katie but, to his surprise, he found the room empty. He frowned as he made his way up the stairs; he didn't hear any noise coming from her bedroom and when he opened the door he saw that it was also empty. He felt panic grip his heart as he checked all of the other rooms in the house, along with their small back yard, and saw that they were all deserted.

He rushed back into the kitchen, picked up the phone, called her cell and then nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard it ring on the counter next to him. He slammed the phone down in frustration and then picked it up again and dialed a familiar number.

"Hello?" He heard a masculine voice say.

"Steve, it's Dave, is Katie over there?" Steve Smith was the father of Kayla Smith, who was Kate's best friend. The girl and her father lived down the street from them, in another block of townhouses, and it was the closest place Dave could think of.

"No, she's not here; Kayla's at camp until the end of next week," Steve told him.

"Damn," Dave said as more worry became evident in his voice. "We had a…fight and she ran off while I was on the phone."

"Do you want me to have some of the guys look for her?" Steve was a detective with Metro PD and because of that, and because their daughters were such good friends, Dave and Steve had become friends as well.

"That would great," Dave told him and then gave him a description of the clothes she was wearing when she left. Soon after, they hung up and Dave once again wracked his brain for places she could have gone to. Another flash of hope hit his chest as he dialed the next number.

"Hello?" This time feminine voice answered.

"Hailey, is Katie with you?" Dave asked, praying that she was. Unfortunately, his prayers were not answered.

"No, I haven't seen her since dinner last week. Why, is she missing?"

Dave nodded, forgetting she couldn't see him, "The big reveal didn't go so well, she was _really _upset."

"Damn," Hailey said softly. "You let her run away from you?"

"No, I stepped in to the other room to take a call and when I came back, she was gone," he explained.

"Does she have her Metro pass?"

Dave glanced to where her purse had hung and groaned, "Yup, she has it."

"Okay, let's think about where she might go," Hailey said and for the next few minutes they brainstormed ideas but discarded them because they were either too far or not on a Metro line. Finally, after a few moments of silence, Hailey asked, "What about Janet's grave?"

While Dave and Katie had scattered some of Janet Rossi's ashes in the woods, Dave had had the rest buried at a nearby cemetery so she would have a final resting place. "I hadn't thought of that," he said.

"It makes sense; she's angry, confused and probably wants to be close to her mother right now," she told him.

"Will the cemetery even be open?" Dave asked.

"It's only seven and most cemeteries don't close until dark. It's worth a try," Hailey said as she grabbed her car keys, "I'll meet you there." She didn't have to worry about Jack since he was with his dad for the night.

"Sounds good," he said as he reached for his own keys.

"And Dave? If you get there before I do, please don't kill her. I know your first instinct will be to pummel her, but I'm sure she didn't do this to get back at you. I'm guessing she wasn't, and still isn't, thinking straight and she probably just needed to get away from you for a little while."

"I hear you…I'll try to keep my temper in check," Dave promised as he headed out the door.

xxxxxxxxxx

Fifteen minutes later, Hailey pulled into the cemetery and saw a small, lone figure sitting on the ground next to a grave stone. As she got out of the car, she saw Katie was sobbing hard enough that her entire body was shaking. She quietly knelt down next to the girl and put her hand on her shoulder.

Katie hadn't heard her approach and when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she gasped and jumped nearly a mile. "Hailey!" She said, surprised that it wasn't her father.

"Hey Katie, I hear you've had a rough night," she said sympathetically

The teen nodded as tears continued to pour down her face, "Did you know? Please tell me you didn't know!" She begged, not able to stand the idea of any other adults lying to her.

Hailey shook her head, "Your dad told Aaron and I about it the other night, but I didn't tell you because I knew he was going to. If he hadn't told you by Saturday, then I would have."

Katie nodded and continued to wipe away her tears. Hailey watched her for a second and then held out her arms and Katie fell into them. "She wasn't my real mom, Hailey. They lied to me! They lied to me my entire life! Why would they do that?"

"I don't know, honey, but it's complicated. Once you're feeling better, once you've processed all of this, you need to talk to your dad so he can explain everything."

"I don't think I'll ever talk to him again!" She said forcefully. "He LIED! He changed EVERYTHING in a heartbeat…I don't even know who I am anymore! I don't know who I _should _be!"

"You should be you," Hailey told her. "Nothing your father told you tonight changes who you are. You are still Janet Rossi's daughter, whether she carried you in her stomach or not and nothing should ever change your memories of her."

Katie just nodded and continued to cry. After a few minutes, Hailey heard the sobs begin to taper off and eventually she pulled back from her. "Doing better?" She asked.

"A little," she sniffed. "I think I ran out of tears."

"Ready to head home?" Hailey asked, seeing Dave standing about ten paces behind them.

"I suppose I have to," she said.

"You do," Hailey said firmly. "And Katie? I understand you were upset, but you can't do that again; you can't just run off like that, someone needs to know where you are. Okay?"

Katie nodded as she wiped her face with her hands, "I didn't do it on purpose, I swear…I just needed to get out of there, I needed to get away from my dad. If I had stayed, I would've said a lot worse than 'bitch' to him."

Nodding as if she understood that last part, Hailey said, "You know you can call me whenever you need to, right? I'm always here for you."

Katie nodded as they stood up, "Thanks," she said as they hugged again. Once their embrace ended, they turned and walked to the cars. As soon as Katie saw her dad, she felt the anger come rushing back to her.

Dave saw the anger return to her face and said nothing. Instead he walked with the women to the cars. While Dave thanked Hailey for her help, Katie got into the front passenger seat of the SUV and slammed the door. Dave winced when he heard the loud noise and then he took a deep breath and got into the driver's seat.

The ride home was largely silent, but as they approached their neighborhood, Dave finally spoke up. "This can't happen again, Katie," he said. "I don't have many rules for you, but I need to know where you are and if I'm not around, then another trusted adult needs to know. Do you understand?"

Katie, who had rolled her eyes at the 'I don't have many rules' line, stayed silent.

"Kate Lynn Rossi, I need an answer. Do you understand?" Dave asked again, much more firmly this time.

"I understand," she said through clenched teeth.

"Good," he replied as they pulled into the garage.

After being greeted by an exuberant Mudgie, Katie made her way through the kitchen and towards the stairs before her father stopped her. "I think we should talk some more," he said.

Katie, whose anger had been building throughout the entire car ride home, finally exploded. "I NEVER want to talk to you AGAIN!" She shouted as she ran up the stairs. "I HATE you!" She screamed right before she slammed her bedroom door.

Dave sat down heavily in one of the kitchen chairs, "That went well," he sighed as he absently pet Mudgie's head.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 6

**~Thanks to everyone who has reviewed the last couple of chapters. I haven't had time to respond back personally, but reviews make my day!**

**~This is it until tomorrow night at the earliest.**

* * *

The next two days were tense ones in the Rossi household. While he wanted to talk to his daughter about Strauss and her daughter's medical condition, Katie wasn't exactly in the mood to hear anything he had to say, so he decided not to push it with her. He knew she needed a few days to think about things and he decided to give her those days before he rocked her world again.

The few times they actually saw each other was at mealtimes. No matter how pissed off or confused his daughter was, Dave insisted they eat their meals together, if only so he could see that she was physically okay. To say their meals were tense would be an understatement. Usually their meals together were filled with conversation and laughter, but now they both just sat at the table and ate silently…well, Dave ate while Katie just pushed the food around on her plate and ate enough so he wouldn't hassle her. All in all, mealtimes had become fairly unpleasant, which is why Dave was ecstatic when Hailey called him and invited them both over to her place for Sunday night dinner. Since it was the weekend, Hotch and Jack would be there as well and could act as a tension diffuser. When Hailey heard that Katie and Dave hadn't talked in days, she agreed that she and Aaron would help him discuss Strauss and the medical issues with Katie.

It was around four o'clock on Sunday afternoon before Dave finally got the courage to knock on his daughter's door and, when he did, he received no answer. Knocking again, he called out, "Katie, are you in there?"

"Yes," she replied frostily.

"Can I come in?"

Dave heard an angry sigh and then, "I suppose."

He opened the door and stuck his head in, "Hailey invited us over for dinner tonight, so be ready to go by quarter to six, okay?"

"Fine," she said.

Thankfully she followed his directive and met him at the car at six forty-five on the dot. They both got into the car and started a silent journey to Hailey's house. After five minutes of the heavy silence, Dave finally broke it.

"So why did you try making a withdrawal from your savings account yesterday?" He asked even though he was already fairly sure of the answer.

"What?" Katie asked, surprised by his question; how in the hell did he know about that? Especially since they wouldn't let her take the money because she didn't have his signature on the withdrawal slip. "How do you know about that?"

"I'm automatically alerted whenever someone tries to take money from your account, since my name is on it too," he told her. "So why did you try taking some of it out?"

"No reason," she said as she stared out the side window.

"No reason, huh? You tried taking eighteen hundred dollars out of your account; I would say there has to be a huge reason for that." It wasn't as though Katie had vast wealth sitting in the bank, but she got an allowance of eight dollars a week, soon to be ten now that she was a full-fledged teenager, and since he bought most of her stuff, the money in her account added up.

"Fine," she said tightly, "If you must know, I was going to by an airline ticket to Italy…I want to live with Grandpa."

"That is not going to happen, Katie," he said firmly as he tried to keep his own anger out of his voice. "You are staying here with me."

"But-" she tried to argue, but he talked over her.

"And I can't believe you were going to run away again, especially after our discussion on the way home from the cemetery. What part of 'I need to know where you are at all times' don't you understand?"

"God dad, it's not like I got the money, so can't you just let it go?" Why did he have to make such a big deal over everything?

"Fine, but if you try running away again, the only trip you'll take will be over my knee," he told her and got a fierce glare in return.

xxxxxxxxxx

Dinner that night was less stressful for both Dave and Katie because there were other people for them to talk to. Jack picked up on the tension between the two and asked Hotch if they were mad at each other. Hotch explained they were but they would get over it. Katie just rolled her eyes when she heard his explanation.

After dinner, she went into the kitchen with Hailey so she could talk to her, while the three men watched the end of a baseball game. After the game, Hotch put Jack to bed while Hailey and Katie fixed dessert. Once the dessert was almost finished, Katie excused herself so she could use the bathroom and that's when Hailey lit into Dave.

"Are you an idiot?" She asked him, once his daughter was out of earshot.

"What do you mean?" Dave asked, wondering what he'd done now.

Hailey shook her head, "You don't threaten to put a thirteen year-old over your knee, especially one that's rightfully angry with you. She's not seven years old anymore, Dave!"

"She tried taking money out of her bank account so she could run away, Hailey. What in the hell was I supposed to do?"

"First, she wasn't going to run away, she was going to tell you first," Hailey said, "And second, you need to give her some more time! Yeah, I know things have been bad between the two of you and they'll probably get worse before they get better, but you can't expect her to get over everything this quickly! You've had thirteen years to think about this, but she's only had three days; she needs more time."

"You're right," he admitted, "I just hate the way things are right now; she screamed at me that she hated me."

The woman snorted, "God, I can't count on both hands the number of times I told my parents I hated them when I was her age. She's a teen, Dave and angst is all a part of that. Don't take it personally."

"I'm trying not to, but it's hard."

"I know, but things will eventually get better," Hailey assured him.

"What will get better?" Hotch asked, joining them.

"Hailey is trying to reassure me that my daughter doesn't actually hate me," Dave said.

At that moment, Katie re-joined the adults at the table and ate her dessert with them. It was quiet for a moment before Dave took a chance and spoke to her.

"Sweetie, I know you're mad and don't want to talk to me, but we need to discuss what I told you," he said.

"What is there to discuss?" She asked tonelessly. "My mom isn't my mom and you lied to me about it for my entire life. Did I leave anything out?"

"You did, actually. There's a reason I told you about all of this now instead of when you're older, but we can't talk about it if you're too mad at me to listen, this is too important, so can you please put your anger aside for the next thirty minutes?" He asked as he felt his patience with her slip a little.

She was quiet for a moment while she processed what he had said. "Fine," she responded and made a conscious effort to forget her anger for a little while, but that effort was for naught when she heard the next words come out of his mouth.

"You have a sister, three of them actually, but the middle one, Clara is nine years old-"

"I have sisters?" She asked in shock, as he nodded. "I have sisters and YOU NEVER TOLD ME?"

"Keep your voice down, Jack is asleep," Dave ordered her as she looked at him in furious disbelief.

"So not only is my mother alive, I also have sisters!" She hissed. "Is there anything else you haven't told me about my family? Am I secretly half alien?"

The adults in the room knew she was pissed, so they all bit back the smiles that threatened their faces with her last question. "_Anyway,_" Dave continued, "Clara is nine years old and has a disease called aplastic anemia and it's affecting her bone marrow. Up until this point, they've been to help her with medicine, but now she needs a bone marrow transplant, or she'll die."

"God," Katie said after a moment, "This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"

"They aren't great circumstances, that's for sure," Hailey agreed as she patted the teen's hand reassuringly.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed her anger down and asked, in an almost normal tone, "So what does this have to do with me?"

Dave, who was surprised that she sounded almost like her old self, responded, "The best match for her would be a blood relative, but your biological mother and your other two sisters are not a match for her…they're all hoping that you will get tested."

There was silence as Katie absorbed what her dad had just told her. "So…they want my bone marrow? Do they even want to meet me, or do they just want my parts?"

"Honestly Katie Belle, Erin and I never got that far in our discussion, so I'm not sure."

"How…how would they test me?" She asked, still somewhat in shock and no one could really blame her for that; heck, three days ago she had been an only child whose mother was dead and she had been living with her single father. Now she had to adjust to not only having a living biological mother, but three sisters as well and one of them was sick. It was a lot to take in.

Dave gave her a blank look; with all that had happened over the past three days, he hadn't researched the procedures much. Thankfully Hotch spoke up. "The first part is a blood test and then, if you're deemed a match, the next step is a bone marrow aspiration."

"What's that?" Katie asked, thinking the name of the test itself sounded nasty, so she knew it wouldn't be good, and she was right.

"Your doctor would insert a needle into your hip and extract a sample of bone marrow so they could study it further to ensure you would be a good match for Clara…and before you ask, yes, it would probably hurt, but they would numb your skin so you wouldn't feel the needle going in." While Katie digested that piece of news, the two adults looked at Hotch in astonishment.

"How in the hell did you know all of that?" Dave asked, amazed at his friends knowledge.

"Reid," was his reply.

"How big is the needle?" Katie asked, her fear of all things medical gripping her heart.

"I don't know," Hotch answered honestly.

"Yeah, but if they're going to jab it into a bone and suck my stuff out, it's gotta be pretty freaking big, right?"

"Probably," Hotch admitted.

"And she'll die if I don't do this?" Katie asked.

"No, at that point she would be added to the donor waiting list and hopefully a stranger would be matched to her, but the odds for her survival are much better if the marrow comes from a blood relative," Dave said, unsure if _he _wanted her to go through with it, now that he knew what the testing entailed. If the testing was that bad, what was the actual donation procedure like? He made a mental note to have Garcia research it for him as soon as he got to the office the next day.

There was another long stretch of silence while Katie weighed the pros and cons in her mind. Finally, she nodded her head and said, "Okay, I'll do it, I'll get tested." She knew that, no matter how pissed she was about everything, she couldn't just not help her sister.

"Are you sure about this, honey?" Dave asked and Katie nodded firmly.

"I am, but if I turn out to be a match, I'm going to want to talk to the doctor and ask some questions before I agree to donate, okay?"

Dave nodded his head, "Definitely, I have some questions about the procedure as well."

The three of them sat there for another minute before Katie finally asked, "So is that it?"

"That's it," Dave told her.

"So I can go back to being mad at you now?"

Dave sighed, he'd hoped that once she'd started talking to him again, she would forget about all of the anger she had towards him. He should've known better, after all she was the product of two of the most stubborn people on the planet. "You can," he said tiredly.

"Good," Katie said as she crossed her arms over her chest and shot a glare at him.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 7

**~Thanks again to all of the reviewers out there...I promise I'll start responding again!**

**~Someone pointed out to me that in the show, Strauss has two daughters and one son. Oops, I forgot about that! Anyway, in this story she has three daughters and no son.**

**~I've been awake for almost forty hours, so I'm sorry if this chapter is a little off.**

* * *

The next morning, Dave trudged into the BAU feeling exhausted. While he hadn't done anything too taxing during his week off, having his daughter angry with him occupied his mind and, as a result, he hadn't been sleeping well. He popped into the break room before going up to his office and he brewed a pot of coffee so strong, he was sure his fillings had dissolved.

As he enjoyed his muddy coffee, Derek Morgan joined him in the break room. "Wow Dave, you just had a week off and you're coming back exhausted? What, did you spend the time with a wild woman?"

"Yeah," he grumbled, "A thirteen year-old wild woman."

Derek grimaced, "Okay…what?"

"My daughter, asshole," Dave clarified, "I spent the week with my daughter."

"Ah," Derek said as the light bulb went on in his head. "The elusive Katie Rossi."

"Katie?" Garcia chirped as she joined them. "Is she here? Am I finally going to meet her?"

Dave shook his head, "Not gonna happen, Garcia."

"It's not fair," she pouted, looking very much like his daughter. "Your kid would be the most fun to hang out with! We could watch movies, do each other's hair, I could help her pick out clothes..."

Dave winced at that last activity; that was exactly what he _didn't _need! He loved Garcia, but there was no way he wanted his daughter to dress like her. When she wasn't in her school uniform, Katie was perfectly happy wearing jeans and non-flashy shirts and, if they were doing something fancy, she would sometimes wear a skirt or dress. He did _not _want to see her in fluorescent colors, nor did he want her coloring her hair.

"It's still summer vacation, isn't it? Where is she this week?" The tech goddess asked.

"She's at a day camp until school begins. It actually works out well for us; I drop her off on my way to work and then I pick her up on my way home and it's on our route, so I don't have to detour to get her."

Garcia opened her mouth to ask another question when Hotch called her and asked for her assistance. Glad to be done with the third degree, Dave made his way up to his office and sat down behind his desk with his eyes closed.

"Did you tell her?" Erin asked from the sofa. Upon hearing her voice, Dave jumped in surprise and almost spilled his coffee.

"Dammit Erin! Can't you just sit in the chairs by my desk like a normal person? Do you have to take a year off of my life every time you wait for me?" He asked loudly.

She just stared at him for a moment and then repeated, "Did you talk to your daughter?"

He nodded, "I told her on Thursday."

"And how did she react?"

"Just the way I thought she would; she's angry, hurt, betrayed, confused, and the list goes on, but she agreed to get tested," he told her. "In fact, I'm taking her to the doctor's office after work today so they can get the initial blood work done."

Strauss's shoulders slumped in relief and she bowed her head, "Thank God," she whispered and then looked up. "Thank you David, thank you so much."

"I'm not doing anything, this is all Katie," he replied. "And, before you get ahead of yourself, she said she wants to talk to the doctor if she turns out to be a match; she wants to ask him some questions about the procedure before deciding if she'll donate or not."

"But she will, right?" Strauss's relief turned to fear. "If she's a match, she'll donate? She has to! Clara will die without it!"

"First of all," Dave said, feeling his own ire increase, "My daughter doesn't _have _to do anything; It's her choice whether she donates or not. Second, you're getting way ahead of yourself, we don't even know if she's a match yet."

"But-" the section chief tried breaking in, but Dave wouldn't let her.

"Third, I'm confident she'll donate if it turns out she's a match. Katie's the type of kid that needs all of the information before making up her mind, which is why she wants to talk to the doctor first, but I'm sure she'll donate."

"Really?" Strauss asked as his words mollified her a bit.

He nodded, "She didn't have to think twice about getting tested, not once she found out how much is at stake."

Strauss exhaled, "Okay then, you'll let me know how the test turns out?" She asked as she stood up to leave.

"I will, but we're not done talking, Erin," he told her.

"We're not?" She asked, raising an eyebrow as she sat back down on the sofa.

"No," he said. "Katie had some questions for me this weekend, when she would talk to me at all, and she wants to know what happens next."

"What do you mean?"

"She wants to know if you two are going to meet, she wants to know what type of relationship she'll have with you and her sisters."

"Oh David," Erin said softly. "I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I was looking for any type of relationship with her, because I'm not. I'm sure she's a great girl, but I gave her up thirteen years ago and I can't go back on that."

"So, what?" He asked angrily, "You just want her bone marrow and that's it? An heir and a spare, isn't that how it goes?"

"Look, I am not willing to jeopardize my relationship with my daughters. Of course they'll have to be told about her and I'm sure they will have questions and they may get angry, but they'll get over it. If invite Katie into our lives, it will change everything."

"Boo fucking hoo, Erin! Do you think this has been easy for Katie? She's had to come to terms with the fact that her dead mother isn't really her mother, that she has sisters and one of them is sick and that her biological mother is the boss I'm constantly railing against. Do you really think this whole thing hasn't changed _my_ relationship with my daughter?"

"I'm sorry David, but I am not going to risk everything I have in order to placate a thirteen year old girl," she said firmly.

"You know," he started through clenched teeth, "I always knew you were a cold hearted bitch, but until now I never knew exactly how much of one you are. Get out of my office!"

Strauss stood to leave, "I know you see me as a monster right now, David, but I'll do anything I have to in order to save my daughter."

"It's good to see that you're capable of feelings towards at least one of your children!" He snarled.

Strauss let the comment pass, "You'll let me know the test results?" While it sounded like a question, it wasn't and the chief left the room before Dave could answer.

Once she left, Dave sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. As he opened them, a framed picture of his daughter caught his eye and he picked it up. "I'm so sorry Katie Belle," he whispered. "You deserve better than this."


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 8

**~I'm playing with the canon timeline a little. The episodes mentioned in this chapter aired in May and September, but in this story they happened in August.**

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The next three weeks were exhausting for Dave. When he wasn't in some random city working a case, then he was at home, living with his daughter's anger. It was like the cold war at their house and, while he hadn't wanted to let her anger go for that long, those pesky serial killers had gotten in the way of him spending any meaningful time with her. It felt as if they had barely seen each other since he told her the truth about her origins.

First there was that case in Oregon, with the sick fuck that went after people with his car. Yeah, he knew the guy had had a rough life, but come on! A lot of people had hard lives and didn't go running people down with their trucks.

It was during that case when the blood test had come back indicating that Katie was a preliminary bone marrow match for Clara. Soon after that, while he was still out of town, Hailey had taken Katie for her bone marrow biopsy and he felt horrible that he hadn't been there for it, not that his daughter would've wanted him with her, but from what Hailey had told him, the procedure had been rough on her. The doctors told them it would be a few weeks before they knew for certain if Katie was enough of a match for Clara, so the waiting game had begun.

Then, there was the anthrax scare that had been literally in his own backyard. It took everything he had not to pack a bag for Katie and ship her back to his father. They didn't have scares like this in Italy, did they? Thankfully Hotch had talked him out of it, but just barely.

The case in Canada had come right on the heels of Reid's recovery and while it was technically considered a win, because they got the girl out alive, he was putting it in the loss column…the gigantic loss column because with nearly 100 people dead it would never be considered a win for him. After that case, he'd gone home and watched his daughter sleep for over an hour before he was finally able to fall asleep.

And then Foyet happened and it blew their worlds apart.

Seeing Hotch in the hospital like that, so vulnerable, so broken…it was just so _wrong_, and that was before he realized Foyet was going after his family. The look on Hotch's face when he realized what Foyet was up to scared Dave and it wasn't until he was getting into the SUV, so they could race to Hailey's house, that the full effect of Foyet's attack dawned on him.

Without a word to any of his team members, he whipped out his cell phone, called Garcia and told her to deploy three agents to the address he gave her. She did it while he was still on the line and once he had the agent's names, he quickly disconnected from her and pressed #1 in his speed dial.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up," he prayed. God was listening to him and he almost cried when he heard his daughter say, "Hello?" Up until that point, he wasn't sure if she was allowed to have her cell phone with her at her day camp and even if she _was_ able to keep it, he wasn't sure if she would pick up once she saw it was him.

"Katie, I need you to listen to me and not ask any questions; I'm calling a Code Candlestick," he said firmly as he pushed the worry out of his voice. As soon as she was old enough to understand, he and Janet had sat Katie down and told her that since her daddy chased bad guys, someday the bad guys might come after him and if that happened, their codeword would be candlestick, from her favorite movie _Beauty and the Beast._ She knew that if he ever used that word, she needed to immediately drop what she was doing and obey his directions, no questions asked. It was a rule both of her parents had taken very seriously.

Dave heard his daughter take a deep breath and say, "Okay, what do you want me to do?" Thank God it had worked. Now that she was a teenager, not to mention still pissed at him, he had expected questions from her, questions he didn't have time to answer.

"I want you to go to the main office and sit with a staff member; I've arranged for three agents to come and pick you up. Their names are Michael Watson, Eric Lambert and Jessica Bartel. When they get there I want you and the staff member to check their identification; if it is anyone else, or if they refuse to show you their ID, call 911." He paused, knowing he was scaring the hell out of her, but also knowing that he didn't have a choice, not if he wanted to keep her safe. "The agents will take you home and two will stay outside while Agent Bartel stays in the house with you. I want you to do _everything _the agents tell you to do, without question. I'll explain everything when I get home but right now I need to make sure you're safe."

"Okay dad, I'm going to the main office right now," she said and he could hear both fear and determination in her voice.

"Good girl. I love you honey," he said as he disconnected the call.

"Do you think Foyet will go after her?" Morgan asked as he sped down the freeway.

"Derek, at this point I have no idea what Foyet has in mind, but if he'll go after Hailey and Jack what's to stop him from going after Katie? If I'm going to do what needs to be done today, I need to know she's safe," Dave said, as the thought of The Reaper hurting his daughter made him nauseous.

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Six hours later, he pulled his car into his garage, cut the engine and then sat back and reflected on his afternoon. Words couldn't describe the relief he'd felt when he saw that Jack and Hailey were okay, nor could they describe the fear and frustration Hailey had felt about being put into witness protection. After Hotch and Jack's tearful goodbye, he'd escorted the two of them to Agent Kassmeyer's car and said his own goodbyes. While there, Hailey slipped him a folded piece of paper.

"What's this?" He'd asked; while they had been waiting for the US Marshals, he had seen her writing furiously on a legal pad, but he didn't know why.

"This is a list of all of the "girl stuff" you'll need to know about your daughter. Think of it as a care and feeding guide to teenage girls. Since I'm not going to be here, you're going to need to step up to the plate for some of this stuff," she'd told him.

"You're going to be able to come back soon," he'd told her as he pulled her into a hug. "We'll catch Foyet."

"I hope so, Dave. Take care of Aaron," she'd said as she pulled out of his arms and got into the car.

"I will," he'd promised before shutting the door. He'd watched the car's taillights until they couldn't be seen and then he'd gone up and given Aaron the same speech.

With a sigh, he opened his car door and stepped into the garage. With each footstep he took, his legs felt heavier and heavier; hell, he'd only gotten about four hours sleep before going back to work and he was beyond exhausted, both physically and emotionally and he knew he still had to talk to opened the door, which led into the kitchen, and found a young agent staring at him with her hand on the gun at her hip. "Agent Rossi?" She asked.

"That's me," he said as he slowly reached for his creds. He flashed them at her and she visibly relaxed.

"Sorry sir, the guys outside didn't tell me you had arrived home," she said with a flushed face.

"Agent Bartel, you never have to apologize for something like that; that's the type of thing that will keep my daughter safe," he told her and she nodded.

"Now that you're home, I'm going to head out, but I'll be back tomorrow morning. The new pair of agents will take over for the guys outside at midnight," she told him.

"Good," he said as she gathered up her things. "How is my daughter?"

"She's worried but overall she's doing fine. After we picked her up from the camp, where she checked our credentials three times before going with us, she went upstairs to her room to read and she's been there ever since."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," he said as she stepped through the front door. Dave threw deadbolt, set the alarm and made his way up the stairs, dreading the fact that he would have to shake his daughter's world again.

Once he got to the top of the stairs, he stood in her open doorway and watched her for a moment. She was half-sitting, half-laying on her bed and she seemed to be engrossed in a teen chick-lit book. "Hey," he said softly, gearing up for a glare and a chilly 'hello.'

"Dad!" She cried as she jumped up from her bed and ran towards him. To his surprise, she threw her arms around him and held on fiercely. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Katie Belle," he said as he held her; it had been weeks since she'd said anything civil to him and he'd been afraid to touch her for fear he would pull back a stub, so to have her in his arms, no matter the circumstances, felt nice.

"But you called a Code Candlestick," she said as she pulled away from him slightly and looked up at him. "You've NEVER called a Code Candlestick!"

"I know, but I'm fine," he reiterated. "But honey, Aaron was hurt. He's okay, but he's in the hospital."

"What happened?" She asked as tears sprung to her eyes.

"It's a long story, Belle; let's sit down." They both sat on her bed and Dave explained everything to her, including the temporarily increased security at their house and when they were done, she sat in a stunned silence.

"So Hailey and Jack are just gone?" She asked. What was she going to do without Hailey? She was a combination mom/big sister and she knew she could talk to the woman about _anything._

"Just until we catch this guy, honey," he told her as he picked up her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"How long will that take?"

"I'm honestly not sure, but we have everyone working on it," he told her and she nodded as she continued to process everything. "Are _you_ okay?" He finally asked her and she nodded again.

"I'm going to miss Jack and Hailey and I was really scared when you called me at camp, but I followed all of your directions and I didn't argue with the agents or ask them any questions," she told him.

"I know, and I am _so _proud of you for that. You did really well today, Katie," he said as he kissed her forehead and then stood up. "How about we order pizza, or are you still too mad to eat with me?"

When her dad had first arrived home, she was too worried about him to be mad at him and now that he'd explained everything, she realized that what had happened to Aaron could have happened to him…it finally dawned on her that he really could die at his job and that realization had melted her anger.

"I'm not mad anymore," she told him as she also stood up. "I'm still confused, and I have a bunch of questions that I'll want to ask sometime soon, but I'm not mad."

"Thank God," he breathed in relief; he'd missed having his happy daughter around.

"And dad?" She said hesitantly, "I don't hate you...I'm sorry I said that…I actually really love you."

He gave her a one armed hug as they walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, "I know that, Katie Belle, and I love you too."

She smiled at him as he released her and then began pawing through the drawer full of take-out menus in search of a decent pizza place. As he watched her, Dave smiled for the first time in days. She wasn't angry with him anymore and although her forgiveness had come at a price, he would take it.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 9

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The next two weeks went by quickly for everyone. Hotch was slowly recovering and had, in fact, signed himself out of the hospital against medical orders only a week after the stabbing. If he hadn't already been injured, Dave would have kicked his ass for such a boneheaded move but even he, with his red-hot, Italian temper, realized that beating the shit out of someone who had just been stabbed nine times was a bad idea so he settled for a verbal beat down. Since the man lived fairly close by, Dave checked up on him every evening on his way home from work to make sure he was okay. Katie kept pestering him to bring her along, but Dave was hesitant to do so. If Foyet was still watching, which he surely was, he did not want to put his daughter in his line of sight, so he kept making excuses about why she couldn't come.

Things were much better with his daughter now that she was actually talking to him and smiling at him again, which was a minor miracle. The happiness had almost come to a screeching halt once school began. Since Hailey was gone, there was nowhere for her to go after school and when Dave mentioned an after school program, Katie screeched about being too old for daycare! She'd thrown a world class tantrum and had adamantly refused to go, citing the fact that she was a full-fledged teenager now and could stay home by herself. Dave finally gave in to her demand to stay by herself for two reasons. First, she normally hung out with her friend Kayla after school and they did it at her house and Kayla had a live in housekeeper to watch over them and second, without Katie's knowledge, he had hired a private security firm to watch over her.

While the profile said Foyet would focus on Hotch and his family, Dave knew they had gotten it wrong before and there was no way in HELL he was going to take chances with his daughter, so he had hired a couple of guys he'd known back in the day to discreetly keep an eye on Katie from a distance. He didn't want them intruding on her life, but one of them followed her on her walk and Metro ride to and from school and then one of them stayed parked in a car in front of the townhouse until he got home from work. He didn't tell Katie about it because he didn't want her to worry.

At first he thought he was just being overprotective, but then he and JJ had discussed it and Dave learned that JJ and Will had also taken extra security measures for Henry and he didn't feel quite so paranoid.

Because Hotch was out on medical leave, the entire team had been working even more hours than usual and Dave had a hard time leaving the BAU at a decent hour, but he had today and he found himself waiting in a doctor's office with his daughter.

"You know, we don't have to do this," he told her as they waited for the nurse to call their name. After further study of Katie's bone marrow, she was deemed a strong match for Clara Strauss and they were there to talk to the doctor about the donation procedure. "You're not exactly a fan of doctor's offices." That was an understatement; he and Janet usually had to drag her in for her school physicals, and it was a whiny, pain in the ass about going when she was sick.

"We're just talking right now, dad," she said as she rolled her eyes. "It's not like I have to make a decision right this second. Besides, there's no way I'm going to stop now, especially after that horrible bone marrow aspiration." While she knew they would be jabbing a bone into her hip for that procedure, nothing could have prepared her for the pain when they actually sucked out the marrow and she wanted to make sure she wouldn't feel it again if she decided to donate.

"It was that bad, huh?" Her father asked, giving her hand a sympathetic squeeze.

Katie just nodded as the nurse called their names. A few minutes later, they found themselves in the doctor's private office and he was describing the donation procedure.

"The donation itself is considered a minor surgical procedure. Needles will be inserted through the skin and into the pelvic bone to draw the marrow out and the process usually only takes one to two hours. Because Katie is so young, we'll keep her overnight in the hospital to make sure there are no complications and to manage her pain," the doctor told them.

"Will I be in a lot of pain afterwards?" Katie asked fearfully.

"After the surgery you might feel tired or weak and you may have trouble walking for a few days. The area where the bone marrow was taken out might feel sore for up to a week," Dr. Johnson said. "But an over the counter pain reliever usually helps with that and if it doesn't, I'll prescribe something stronger for you. You'll likely be able to get back to your normal routine within a week, but it may take a couple of weeks before you feel fully recovered. You should plan on missing at least four days of school and then it will be another few weeks before you can return to gym class."

"You said it's a minor surgical procedure, does that mean you'll put her out for it?" Dave asked.

The doctor shook his head. "Normally we would put her under for the procedure, but her medical history indicates she had problems coming out of general anesthesia three years ago when she had her appendix out."

"That's right," Dave told him. "It took longer than normal and her blood pressure kept fluctuating. They actually kept her overnight in the surgical ICU because of it."

Dr. Johnson nodded, "Because of that, we don't want to risk the general anesthesia. Instead, we'll give her an epidural and we'll sedate her so she is barely conscious. She won't feel any pain during the procedure and it will be safer for her."

"Epidural?" Katie asked. "Isn't that what they give pregnant ladies?"

"It is," the doctor told her. "The anesthesiologist will give you a shot in your spinal cord and it will numb you from the waist down."

The teenager paled, "I'm sorry, you want to put a needle WHERE?"

"The anesthesiologist will do it after you're sedated, so you won't feel it."

"Well…I guess that's okay then," she said, still sounding unsure.

"If my daughter decides to donate, when will it happen?" Dave asked.

"Because of the recipient's fragile condition, we would want to do it as soon as possible. We will need to give Clara high doses of radiation in order to destroy her own marrow and immune system. That way her body won't attack the donated marrow and it lowers the chances of rejection," Dr. Johnson told them. "Once we get the green light from Katie, if she decides to donate, the transplant would take place about two weeks later."

"You have to destroy her immune system?" Katie asked, horrified.

"Yes, the donated marrow will help re-build it which is why if you decide to donate, you can't change your mind later; it would kill Clara."

"Okay," Dave said standing up. "Katie and I need to discuss this and she'll need time to think it over. We'll call you with her decision."

Katie and the doctor also stood. "Please, take as much time as you need, this is a big decision and if you have any questions, feel free to call me."

Their minds were both spinning with medical information as they left the office.

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_a/n: Thanks to www . mayoclinic . com for all of the medical information in this chapter._


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 10

**~Thanks for all of the reviews, especially to the following people who have reviewed just about every chapter: Kimd33, kdzl, DracoMalfoysSweetGirl92, HansonFanGermany, mummacass, mrytale2-5 and MaryEllen1960.**

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An hour later, Dave and Katie were sitting down to a meal of Chinese takeout at the townhouse, with Mudgie under the table whining for their food. For the first few minutes there was little conversation as they both dug into the food, but then Dave spoke up. "The other night you said you have a bunch of questions for me. What's on your mind?"

Katie looked up from her plate and thought for a moment. "How did you and my biological mother meet?"

"At work. We both went through the academy at the same time and then ended up in the BAU together," Dave responded, hoping all of her questions would be that easy. He should have known better.

"Did you…did you have a relationship or was it…just..." She trailed off at the end, not knowing how to ask her dad if she was the product of a one night stand.

Dave sighed, "Katie, your mom and Hailey gave you the facts of life talk, right? You know how babies are made?" The teen turned bright red and nodded. "Okay," he continued, "Your biological mom, Erin, and I…well, we thought we loved each other and we had an intense physical relationship and you, sweetheart, were the result of that relationship."

"Okay, but why didn't you guys get married? Isn't that what usually happens when someone gets pregnant?" She asked.

"Honey, we slept together but we didn't really love each other," he told her.

"But I thought you should only have sex when you're married or you really, really, REALLY love someone. That's what mom told me!" She was almost accusing in her tone and Dave winced; he had never, in his worst nightmares, ever imagined himself having to defend his sexual history to his thirteen year old daughter, but apparently that time had come.

"And your mom was right, but I didn't always follow the rules and neither did your biological mother," he told her.

"So why did she give me up? Why didn't she keep me, or at least share custody with you?"

Dave took a deep breath, "She was married when we were…ah…intimate with each other."

"WHAT?" Katie screeched, dropping her chopsticks to her plate with a clatter.

"She and her husband had separated and she told me she was getting a divorce and it was right after I had divorced my second wife and…we both made some poor choices, but honey," he said, "If I had to go back and do it all again, I wouldn't change anything because all of that brought me you!" There was no way, on God's green earth that he was going to tell her that her biological mother had been a few days away from aborting her. That was something he would take to the grave with him and God help him if Erin ever told her!

Katie sat in silence for a moment as she processed everything he had told her. "Okay, so she had me and gave me over to you. How did mom come into all of this?"

"I met your mother when Erin was two months pregnant with you. By this time, Erin and I had stopped seeing each other and when I met your mother, it was love at first sight. After a few dates, I told her that I going to be a father soon and your mom, being the wonderful woman that she was, didn't let that come between us. By the time Erin gave birth to you, we were engaged and she wanted to fully be your mom. Erin signed her rights over to me and your mom formally adopted you a month after you were born," he told her. "And she never, not once, thought of you as anything other than her full daughter."

"I know," Katie said as tears spilled down her cheeks, "And even though she adopted me, I don't think any less of her either; it's just a lot to take in. Why didn't you tell me when I was younger?"

"Your mom and I never wanted you to think you were unwanted because it's not true," he said firmly. "You have been loved since the moment I found out Erin was pregnant with you and your mom wanted you before you were even born. We probably should have told you, but we were trying to protect you."

Katie nodded, "Is there anything else you're keeping from me?"

Dave shook his head, "Nothing, I promise. I know I blew a lot of your trust in me, honey, but I promise you there is nothing else I'm keeping from you."

"Okay," she finally said and then changed the subject slightly. "Tell me about my sisters."

"Honestly, I don't know much about them," he told her. "I know that Erin and her husband divorced about five years ago and he lives somewhere on the west coast. Erin's youngest daughter is named Alison and she's six or seven, there's Clara who's nine and then Ellen is her oldest and she's sixteen-"

"WHAT?" Katie yelled, "I have an older sister?"

Dave nodded, "She was what? Three or four when you were born? Erin used a deep cover mission as a way to be away from her family while she was pregnant with you."

"So…so she already had a kid and then she had two more," Katie said as her tears began again. "So it's not that she didn't want kids, she just didn't want _me,_" she said softly and then began crying in earnest. His daughter's tears nearly broke Dave's heart. He knew she would eventually come to this conclusion and he had nothing to say that would comfort her because it was the truth, Erin _didn't _want her. It was why he'd never told her about her origins before this.

Not knowing what else to do, he got up from his chair, went over to hers, knelt down and put his arms around her. She leaned into his hug and cried into his shoulder for the next couple of minutes. When she was all cried out, he released her and smoothed her hair back from her face. "Feel better?"

"Not really," she said, wiping her face.

Dave not knowing what else to say, stood up, wet a cloth and handed it to her. She accepted it gratefully, wiped her face and handed it back to him. Then she sat in silence, processing everything, while her dad cleared the table.

"So does she want to meet me? Does she want to get to know me, or does she just want my bone marrow so she can save one of the daughters that she actually wanted?" Katie asked bitterly.

Dave knew his answer would just make her feel worse, but he had to be honest, "She…she doesn't want a relationship with you, Belle, she wants things to remain the way they have been."

"Great," she said angrily as a few more tears leaked out of her eyes. "Well screw her! I had mom and she was great, and I have you, so who needs her and her precious daughters?" Someday, maybe she would actually believe her words.

"I'm sorry honey," Dave said, angry for his daughter. He made a mental note to be even more of an asshole towards Strauss than he normally was.

It was silent for a few more minutes before Katie finally broke it. "Dad?" She finally said.

"What Katie Belle?" He asked as he rinsed their dinner dishes.

"I want to do it; I want to donate my bone marrow to Clara."

He turned away from the sink in shock; he was sure that with all he had told her, she would decide against the procedure and a part of him had hoped she would, not out of bitterness, but because he didn't want her to have to go through all of the medical stuff. "Are you sure, honey? Once you decide to do this, there's no going back. Maybe you should take a few more days."

She shook her head, "She's my sister and even though her mom is a royal bi-" she caught herself in time, "jerk, she shouldn't have to suffer for it. I want to do this, I want to help my sister."

Dave nodded, "Okay, if you're 100% sure, I'll call the doctor in the morning." She nodded and he came over and kissed the top of her head. "You're doing a good thing here, Katie, a _really _good thing."


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 11

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"You slept with Strauss?" Emily asked as a look of horror came over her face.

It was two days after his daughter had decided to donate marrow to Clara Strauss and since he, Hotch and Strauss were going to be out of the office for awhile, not to mention Reid was only working half-days as he recovered from his bullet wound and wouldn't be able to go out into the field for quite some time, Dave decided it was time to let the team know what was happening. Since they were all profilers and would, at some point, probably meet his daughter, he decided honesty was the best policy.

"Yes Emily, I slept with Strauss, but-"

"No. You slept with Strauss? For real?" She repeated with a shudder.

Dave ran a hand down his face as he looked around the room. Derek and JJ had the same expressions of horror and disbelief on their faces that Emily did, while Spencer wore a look of total revulsion. Penelope was sitting at her corner of the table making little gagging noises. He knew this would be their sticking point and who could blame them? Strauss was not beloved by anyone on the team.

"_Yes_, Emily, for real," he told her.

"And she didn't kill you afterward? I guess I always pictured her as a black widow spider," she told him.

"Can we please move past this?" He asked the team. "Play the movie in your heads later, for now we have to discuss how things are going to run around here for the next couple of weeks."

"I'm assuming we'll be taken out of the case rotation," Derek said and Dave nodded.

"Yeah, we're going to be on stand down for at least the next three weeks, maybe four. The cases for consultation will come through JJ and she'll pass them out," Dave told them. "Technically we're all supposed to be here from 9:00am-5:00pm while we're on stand down, but as long as the paperwork gets done and you all keep the higher ups off of my back, I don't care when you come in or leave. Hell, work from home for all I care, just get the work done. I'm going to take the full week off when Katie donates the marrow, but I'll be available via phone if you need me."

"Got it, chief," Derek said.

"Any questions?" Four hands shot into the air. "Any questions that are not about me and Erin?" All four hands were slowly lowered. "That's what I thought," he said.

Smiling, the four of them got up to leave the conference room. "Hey Garcia, hold on for a minute," Dave called out and the woman sat back down.

"What can I help you with, sir?" She asked as he moved to the chair that was closest to her.

"I need a laptop."

"You need a laptop," Garcia repeated.

"Yeah, I need one for a thirteen year old girl," he said. "Katie's been bugging me for her own computer, but I'm too paranoid about the stuff that happens on the internet, but since she's going to be in the hospital and then stuck in bed for a couple of days, not to mention the fact that she's about to do a _really _nice thing in less than two weeks, I thought I would give in and get her one."

"Awwww, that's so sweet, Agent Rossi!"

"Yeah, that's me, a regular teddy bear," he said gruffly. "Anyway I want something that's top of the line, so she can use it for the next few years, and I want it to be as secure as possible from spyware and stuff like that. Can you get one for me and have it here before next Friday?"

"Definitely," she said. "What's her favorite color?"

"Purple, why?"

"Because laptops aren't just boring black anymore, they can be customized. I assume money is no object?" She asked and wasn't surprised when the profiler shook his head. "Okay, one teen-friendly laptop coming right up."

"Thanks Kitten, I'll email you my credit card info."

"Oh Agent Rossi, it's cute that you think I don't already have it," she said with a smile and he groaned.

"Just don't go _too _crazy with it," he said."

"So does this mean I might actually get to meet your daughter? I'm assuming she'll be spending more time with Strauss and it would probably be easier for all of you to meet here," she said, excited at the thought of finally meeting Rossi's mystery daughter. She was dismayed when Dave shook his head.

"Erin made it very clear that she doesn't want to change the way things are; she doesn't want a relationship with Katie, she just wants her bone marrow for her other daughter."

"What?" Garcia screeched. "That bitch! So she wants your daughter to undergo a painful and scary procedure in order to save one of her other daughters and she doesn't want to even get to know her?"

Dave nodded, "Yeah, she said she doesn't want to change her relationship with her other daughters."

"Oh. My. God! I don't even know your daughter and I'm mad _for _her!" Garcia said loudly as she mentally added Erin Strauss to her list of people to fuck with electronically. She would be kind enough to wait until her daughter was better, but after that all bets were off!

"Do you think she'll even tell her other daughters about Katie?" The tech goddess asked.

"I honestly have no idea, Garcia," Dave said.

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Little did Dave and Garcia know, Erin had left work at a reasonable time so she could eat dinner with her daughters and break the news to them that they had another sister. She didn't want to do it, but she knew she would need to explain why there was suddenly a donor for Clara.

As she went from her garage and into the house, she startled her housekeeper.

"Good lord, you scared me Mrs. Strauss!" She exclaimed as she pulled a casserole out of the oven. "You're home early."

Erin nodded, "I am, I have to talk to my girls. Do you know where they are?" She asked as she set her briefcase down on the kitchen table.

"Alison and Clara are in the family room and Ellen is up in her room. She got a phone call from her father and it upset her."

"Great," Erin sighed, "You can leave early if you would like, Mrs. Hutchinson; I can take things from here."

"All right then, I will see you tomorrow," the older woman said as she gathered her things and made her way to the front door. Erin heard it open and close as she made her way to the family room.

"Mommy!" Alison squealed when she saw her mother in the doorway. She jumped up from the floor, ran to her mother and flung herself into her arms. "I'm so glad you're home!"

"Hi mom," Clara said from the couch. With Alison still in her arms, Erin went over to her middle daughter and kissed the top of her head. Had she always been so pale? Her skin looked almost translucent. Thank god Katie had decided to donate, because she didn't know how long Clara would've lasted while they were waiting for another donor.

"How are you feeling, sweetheart?"

"Eh, not good and not bad…I'm just kind of…there…" Clara responded.

"Well, why don't you and Allie go set the table so we can eat; I need to talk to you girls about something."

"What about Ellie, mommy?" Alison asked. "She talked to daddy when we got home and then she got really mad and called him a bad word."

"I'll go talk to Ellie, baby, you help your sister, okay?" Erin asked as she set her on the ground.

"Okay mommy, come on Clara!" Alison ordered and her ghostly white sister slowly obeyed.

As Erin trudged up the stairs, she wondered what her good for nothing ex-husband had done now. She reached her oldest daughter's room and knocked. "Ellie, can I come in?" She asked. She heard a tearful, "Okay," and entered the room. Ellen was curled up on her bed and Erin could see she had been crying.

"What's the matter, baby?" She asked as she sat down next to her.

"Nothing," Ellen responded angrily.

"Your sisters told me your father called this afternoon; does that have anything to do with why you've been crying?"

Ellen nodded, "We're not going to his house for Christmas," she told her mother. "Apparently he and his _fiancé _want to go to the Bahamas instead, so we're getting the shaft!"

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry," she said and somewhat meant it. While she had been glad that her husband had wanted his children out in California for the holidays, she knew she would have missed them terribly and part of her was glad they would be staying with her in DC.

"I haven't seen him in over a year, mom. Why doesn't he want to spend time with us anymore?" Her sisters hadn't been as affected by her father's news as she was; Alison barely knew the man since their parents had split up less than a year after she was born and Clara never really got along with their dad, but Ellen had always been close with him and it felt like a huge betrayal that he would rather spend time with his girlfriend than with his own daughters.

"I know baby, and I don't know what to say. Do you want me to talk to him?" Erin asked as she stroked her daughter's hair.

"No, I don't want him to spend time with me because he _has _to; I want him to do it because he _wants _to."

They sat in silence for a minute until Erin stood up, "Wash your face and then come join us for dinner," she said.

Ellen shook her head, "I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat, Ellie," her mother said in a tone that left no room for argument. The sixteen year old nodded and got up. As Erin went back down the stairs, she could hear water running in Ellen's bathroom.

Thirty minutes later, there was finally a lull in the conversation at the dinner table and that's when Erin took a deep breath and said, "We found a donor for Clara."

"What?" Clara asked, not sure she'd heard her mother right; the doctors told her she would be on the bone marrow registry for months, maybe even _years_!

"How did you find one so fast?" Ellen asked excitedly; she knew her sister's condition had been worsening and, like her mother, she had been worried about the girl.

"First things first," Erin said. "Clara, we're checking you into the hospital the day after tomorrow and, if all goes well, you should have your new bone marrow in less than two weeks."

"How did you find a donor so quickly?" Ellen repeated.

"That's a long story," Erin said and then gave them pretty much the same version of the story that Dave had told Katie. At the end, there was stunned silence from Ellen, indifference from Clara and confusion from Alison.

"You had an affair? You cheated on daddy?" Ellen asked, her anger at her father apparently forgotten.

"We were going through a rough time in our marriage, Ellen and I honestly thought we would divorce at that point," Erin explained, trying to justify her actions, but her eldest daughter just shook her head wildly.

"No! You cheated on daddy! And then you lied to him _and _me and left us for a year to have another man's child!" She screeched. "What in the hell is wrong with you?"

"Ellen Marie Strauss," Erin began through clenched teeth, "You are entitled to your opinion and feelings and you don't have to agree with my choices, but you _will_ show me some respect!"

Ellen just crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her mother. "So while we were living here with you and dad and your fights and animosity towards each other, this girl was living the perfect life with her dad and adopted mom and probably a dog? She got what we never had! I bet her parents didn't leave her for days on end in the care of a housekeeper! I bet her parents never worked such long hours that they went weeks without seeing her, even though they lived in the same house! I bet her mom didn't run her dad off because of mistake she made thirteen years ago!"

"ENOUGH!" Erin shouted, "Think of me what you will, but I did NOT 'run your father off.' We had our differences and decided to divorce, just like millions of other couples have done."

"Yeah but-" Ellen tried interrupting, but her mother spoke over her.

"And she has not had the easiest life; her adoptive mother was killed by a drunk driver less than two years ago, so since then it's been just her and her father and her father's a profiler so he works fairly long hours," Erin said.

"Whatever," the teen said. "This is crap, I can't believe you _just _told us all of this. You're as much of a liar as dad is."

"That's it, you're excused Ellen. I don't want to see you down here for the rest of the night," Erin said.

"I didn't want to come down here in the first place!" Her daughter shouted as she jumped up from her chair and ran to the stairs. They all heard the slamming of a door a few seconds later.

Erin sighed and turned to her other daughters. "How are you two doing with this?" She asked, hoping they wouldn't be as upset as their sister was.

"I don't get it, mommy," Allie said. "I know babies come from special cuddles, but I thought you could only have special cuddles with your husband? How could you have a special cuddle with someone else?"

Erin ignored the amused snort from her nine-year old daughter, who had just learned about the facts of life, and said, "You're right Allie, but sometimes people have special cuddles with men who are not their husbands. I'll explain it all to you when you're older."

Allie nodded, "Okay mommy," she said.

Erin shook her head slightly at her youngest and then turned to her middle child. "And what about you, Clara? Do you have any questions or accusations for me?"

"She's really going to donate? Even though she just learned about me?" The sickly child asked.

Erin nodded, "All of the tests have been run on her blood and marrow and everything looks really good."

"Are we…are we going to meet her? Is she going to join our family?" Clara asked. She wanted to meet the girl who was saving her life, but she wasn't sure if she wanted anything to change in their family and she was kind of relieved when her mother shook her head.

"I told her father that I wanted things to remain the same way they are now. Later on, after you're better, we can re-visit that decision, but your transplant is a big deal and it's dangerous and I don't want anything upsetting us while we're all getting through that."

"Okay mom. Do you want me to wash the dishes?" Clara asked, changing the subject.

Erin shook her head, "You go rest honey, I'll get the dishes."

"Kay," she said and then came over and gave her mother a hug, "Thanks for finding me a donor mom…thanks for saving my life."

As she held her daughter in her arms, Erin thanked the fates above; the big reveal could have gone better, but it also could have gone much worse. At least two of her daughters were still talking to her and she was certain she would be able to work things out with her oldest daughter.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 12

* * *

Dave stared at his bedroom ceiling and willed sleep to come and take him away. Katie was scheduled for the bone marrow donation procedure the next morning and he knew the week ahead of them would be a rough one and he just wanted to be well rested before everything happened, was that too much to ask? Apparently it was, since he continued to lay wide-eyed for the next ten minutes. Finally, he pushed the covers back, stood up and stretched; maybe some fresh air would make him sleepy.

As he made his way to the first floor of the cabin, he reflected on the weekend with a smile. Since he the team was on stand down, he had worked from home on Friday morning and as soon as school let out, he had picked Katie up and they had gone to the cabin to enjoy the last bit of the summer. They'd splashed around in the small lake at the edge of the property, they'd fished, hiked and played with Mudgie until the dog had practically collapsed and during that time, they'd managed to put all thoughts of Strauss, Foyet and all things medical out of their minds. For a brief moment it was if nothing had changed and it was relaxing for both of them.

As he stepped into the great room, Dave could see he wasn't the only one having problems sleeping that night; Katie was curled up in a corner of the sofa and she was staring at the dying fire he'd made earlier that night in order to take the chill out of the cabin. He made a bit of noise so he wouldn't scare her as he walked over to the couch and sat down next to her and followed her gaze to the fire. They both sat in silence for a few minutes until Dave spoke up.

"Can't sleep?" He asked and his daughter shook her head. "Scared about tomorrow?"

Katie nodded, "This all seemed like a really good idea when we were just talking about it. Now I'm not so sure."

"You'll do fine honey; you're going to be asleep for the whole thing," he told her.

"I'm not going to be asleep; they're just going to sedate me. What if it hurts?" She asked.

"It's not going to hurt, Belle," he promised. "The doctors are all going to make sure of that. Yeah, it won't be fun when they start your IV and you'll be sore afterwards, but you won't feel anything during the actual bone marrow harvesting because not only will you be in la la land, you'll also be numb from the waist down."

"You're right," Katie said, still sounding uncertain, "I'm just being stupid."

"Hey, you're _not _being stupid! Those are real fears you have and you're entitled to them." As he studied her, Dave knew there was more on her mind, but he knew she had to tell him at her own pace; if he pushed her, she would clam up like she was holding on to national secrets, so he sat back and waited for her to speak again. It didn't take very long.

"What if it doesn't work?" She whispered.

"What if what doesn't work?" He asked, confused. "Do you mean 'what if they can't get enough marrow'? I don't think that will be a problem-"

"No!" Katie interrupted her voice much louder this time. "What if the transplant doesn't work? What if my marrow isn't good enough and Clara _dies_? It will be my fault! They'll all hate me even more than they do now!"

"Kate Lynn Rossi, look at me," Dave said firmly and he waited until his daughter finally made watery eye contact with him before he continued. "You are doing a _wonderful _thing for your sister and it will NOT be your fault if it doesn't work! It is a certainty that without your marrow, Clara will die; you're giving her a chance to live and if it doesn't work, at least you tried!"

"But-" Katie tried interrupting, but Dave plowed ahead.

"And your biological mother doesn't hate you, she just doesn't know what to do with you right now. Honey, her family is in crisis and she has to focus on Clara and getting her better," he told her, hating that he had to defend Erin and her selfishness.

"How do you know that?" The teen asked, feeling a bit better; somehow, her dad was usually able to make her feel better.

"Because I'm a profiler, remember?" He said with a smile as he reverted back to the standard answer he gave her when he didn't know what else to say. It was his version of the parental 'because I said so.'

They watched the fire die out and when the final embers turned from red to gray, Dave asked her, "So do you think you could manage some sleep? It's already midnight and we have to be on the road by six-thirty." The procedure was at noon and Katie was scheduled to check into the hospital at eight so they could do all of the preliminary work before hand.

"Yeah," she said drowsily as she stood up. Dave walked with her and together they went up the steps and into Katie's room where he tucked her in and gave her a kiss.

"Good night, Belle, sleep tight," he whispered as he left her room.

"You too, dad," she replied before falling into a deep and dreamless sleep.

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They were on the road by six-fifteen the next morning and they had gotten checked in to the hospital by eight. By nine, Katie was in her room and had changed into the pediatric hospital gown which, to her utter embarrassment, had kittens all over it.

"I look like I'm seven!" She complained as she got into her bed. She was still tired from her late night, but her nerves kept her from falling asleep.

Dave privately agreed with her, but he wasn't stupid enough to vocalize his opinion. Instead, he looked around her room. "At least you have a private room," he said. "You're not sharing it with an eight year old."

"Yeah, but why do I have to be in pediatrics?" She whined. "I'm _thirteen_, I shouldn't be stuck on the floor with all of the babies."

"It's just for one night, Katie," her dad pointed out and was about to say more, but at that moment the nurse walked in holding an IV bag and a large needle.

"Is that needle for me?" Katie squeaked. "It looks like a pipe!"

"It won't be so bad, honey," Dave reassured her, but he was wrong, it really _was_ that bad, especially since the nurse missed the vein the first time and had to re-stick her. By the time the IV was in place, the teen had shed more than a few tears and Dave had been ready to strangle the nurse. An hour later, they came to wheel Katie into pre-op and it was as far as Dave could go.

"It'll all be over in a couple of hours, Katie Belle," he told her as she clutched his hand.

"I'm scared," she whispered as he bent down to kiss her forehead.

"I know you are sweetie, but you are the bravest person I know. You'll be just fine," he said, feeling like a monster. What he really wanted to do was call the whole thing off, but he knew if Katie didn't go through with the donation, Clara Strauss, with her deadened immune system, would surely die, so he just gave his daughter's hand a tight squeeze and then watched as she was wheeled through the doors and into the surgical area.

Forty-five minutes later, the doctor came into the waiting room to talk to Dave. "We're just about to start the procedure," he said. "It will take 2-3 hours and then Katie will be back in her room."

"How is she?" Dave asked, already worried about her.

"She's scared, which is to be expected, but she's in good spirits. It helps that she's already numb from the waist down."

"I thought you were going to wait until she was sedated to give her the epidural?" Dave asked angrily; he couldn't believe he hadn't been there to help her through it.

"I wanted to, but because Katie is so small, she needed to be positioned just right for the anesthesiologist to get the needle into her spine correctly and he needed her to be awake in order to follow his directions."

"Damn," he whispered, remembering his daughter's fear of needles.

"Anyway, she's numb and she's doing well," Dr. Johnson told him as he stood up to go back into the surgical area. Dave stopped him with a hand on his upper arm.

"Take really good care of her, doc," he said hoarsely, "She's all I have."

The doctor considered this for a second and then asked, "Do you want to hold her hand through the procedure?"

"What?" Dave asked, surprised. "I can come back there?"

The doctor nodded, "We don't normally allow family to be present during something like this, but the patient is also normally unconscious. Since Katie will be awake, it would be nice for her to have someone familiar near her to keep her calm."

"Hell yes, I want to be there with her!"

"Okay, I'll have a nurse get you some scrubs and help you wash up and you'll be able to sit near your daughter's head."

In the surgical area, Katie had just been wheeled into the operating room and, since she was numb from the waist down, she couldn't move onto the table so the nurses moved her and then positioned her onto her back and began draping the surgical area. The teen was trying hard to be brave, but the doctors and nurses kept using scary medical words and she could hear the metal of the instruments clinking together and her nerves began to get the better of her. Just as she was about to totally freak out, someone sat down on a stool near her head and she heard a familiar voice say, "Hey, Katie Belle."

Katie turned her head and saw, what appeared to be, her father sitting next to her, except he was dressed in scrubs and he wore a surgical cap and mask.

"Dad?" She asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"Doctor Johnson thought you could use a familiar face…well, voice in here," he said as he took her hand.

"I can hear the instruments clinking together; what if I can hear it when they're digging the needles into my bones?" She whispered in horror.

"Just focus on my voice, Belle and ignore everything else."

Katie followed his order, although it was easier to do once the anesthesiologist loaded her up with sedatives. Throughout the procedure, she went in and out of a heavy sleep, but every time she woke up, she heard her dad's soothing voice and it helped her relax…it made her feel safe and that was exactly what she needed.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 13

* * *

As Hotch stepped off the elevator, he heard a familiar voice say, "Agent Hotchner?" He couldn't keep himself from cringing and he was glad his back was facing his unit chief. Once he schooled his expression, he turned around and faced her.

"Ma'am, how are you?" He asked politely. He hadn't seen her since his own stint in the hospital and he knew she had to be feeling the stress of having a critically ill child.

"Fine, Agent Hotchner, thank you for asking. Do you need something from me?" Strauss asked, confused as to why he was there.

It took Hotch a moment to understand her confusion and then the light bulb went on in his head, "No ma'am, I'm here to see Katie Rossi," he told her. "I've gotten to know her fairly well over the years, via Dave, and she used to stay with my ex-wife while Dave was on a case."

"Oh, I had no idea," Strauss said.

Hotch nodded and then changed the subject slightly. "How is your daughter?"

"She's doing well; she'll have a hard road ahead of her but the doctors are using terms like 'cautiously optimistic,' which is better than the words they had been using before the transplant," Erin said. "They still expect an episode of rejection but if she can get through that, she'll have a good chance for long-term survival." To anyone else her words would have sounded cold, especially since she was talking about her own daughter, but Hotch, having known the woman for longer than he would have liked, knew it was her defense mechanism; he knew if she personalized it, she would fall apart.

"I'm glad ma'am, really," he said and then held up the large paper bag he was carrying. "If you'll excuse me, I brought a late lunch for Katie and Dave and its getting cold."

"By all means, Agent Hotchner," Strauss said as she stepped aside so he could go down the hallway.

As he made his way to Katie's room, he tried to shake Strauss from his head, but he couldn't. God, what if that was Jack lying in the hospital? What if he was waiting to see whether he would live or die? It was bad enough not knowing where he was, but he didn't think he would be able to stand it if his son was ever in a life or death situation.

He managed to shake those thoughts by the time he reached Katie's room. Before fully entering her room, he peeked in and saw that she was watching TV and she had a pinched look on her face. He hadn't seen her since his stabbing because he didn't want to put her in the line of fire in case Foyet was still watching him, but he figured a visit to the hospital wouldn't garner much attention.

Katie, who had been trying to find something decent to watch on the television, smelled food and looked toward the door. "Aaron!" She called out happily when she saw him at the door. He came fully into her room, set the bag down on the counter and gave her a gentle hug.

"How are you doing, sweetheart?" He asked as he straightened up and stood next to the bed.

She thought for a second, "Well, the good news is the procedure is over with…the bad news is the epidural is wearing off," she said as she shifted in her bed and then winced.

"Are you in a lot of pain?" Hotch asked in concern and Katie nodded.

"Yeah, but dad's on it," she told him and then, as if the teen was psychic, the two of them heard Dave arguing with the nurse in the hallway.

"I am not going to SIT there and watch my daughter writhe in pain," he bellowed. "She needs pain medicine and she needs it NOW!"

"I'm sorry sir," the young nurse said in a placating voice, "But the doctor did not leave any orders for pain medicine, so the most we can give her is Tylenol."

"Find him and get the orders for pain medicine," he barked. "I can give her _Tylenol_ at home. Why in the hell should she stay overnight here if you people won't do anything to help her?"

"Mr. Rossi, you've got to understand-" The nurse tried defending herself, but Dave wouldn't let her.

"No, _you've _got to understand that my thirteen year old daughter is in pain, plain and simple, so I don't care if you've got to drag the doctor out of surgery but you _will _get orders for some pain medication and you _will_ do it soon or I will take this much further than you. Understand?"

Back in the room, Hotch and Katie strained to hear the next part of the conversation, but the nurse must have finally caved in to Dave's demand because their voices went back to a civil volume. "It's going to be bad when I go home, isn't it?" Katie asked and Hotch smiled.

"Have you _ever_ known your father to react well when you're sick or in pain?"

"No," the teen said, shaking her head, "But he's never really been around to take care of me when I've been sick; mom was always there and after she died, Hailey took care of me."

Hotch nodded, "Exactly. So not only will your dad be trying to make up for lost time, it will also be the first time that he'll see you in pain and not feeling well and his protective nature will go into overdrive. Face it kid, for the next week your father isn't going to let you out of his sight, nor is he going to let you do anything."

"Great," Katie mumbled and then changed the subject. "Did I smell food when you came in?"

Hotch nodded and grabbed the bag from the counter. "I can only imagine what they're feeding you here, so I thought you would like a burger and fries from Five Guys." He pulled the food from the bag and set it in front of her.

Katie looked from the food to her father's friend and gave him a big smile, "You are officially my favorite person on the planet," she told him as she began to unwrap her burger.

"Hey," Dave protested as he came into her room with a nurse. "I just harassed this young lady for ten minutes so you could get some pain killers. How does Hotch rank higher than me?"

"Because _he_ brought me food from Five Guys," she said as the nurse set two pills down on her bedside tray. "Although, if these pills take the pain away, this nurse might become my favorite person on earth."

The nurse smiled, "Just be sure to take these about halfway through your meal, Katie." With that, she left the room and the teen tore into her food as if she hadn't eaten in a week.

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Four hours later, Katie awoke to find herself alone in her room. The painkillers had knocked her out and her dad must have stepped out of the room while she was asleep. With a sigh, she picked up the TV remote and began another fruitless search for a decent TV show. Her channel surfing was interrupted when someone lightly cleared their throat from her doorway. Katie looked over and saw a well-dressed woman standing just inside the room and she looked like she was sizing her up.

Katie turned off the TV and asked, "Can I help you? Are you another doctor?" Then with a groan, she asked, "You're not here to take any more blood, are you? Because I'm pretty sure I'm out!"

"I'm not a doctor Katie, I'm your…I'm Erin Strauss," she responded and then there was dead silence as the two sized each other up.

As soon as the woman said her name, Katie felt light-headed. Holy crap, this was her biological mother! She had envisioned meeting her, but not like this, not with her in a hospital bed looking like crap! As she stared at the woman who had given her away as if she was nothing, she noticed the similarities between the two of them; she definitely had Erin's nose and her cheekbones seemed familiar.

While she stared at Erin, Katie also couldn't help but make comparisons between her and adoptive mother. While her mom always looked nice, she didn't feel the need to wear much makeup and, unless she was going out with her dad, her clothes were usually comfortable and casual and she always seemed laid back and relaxed. Erin, on the other hand, wore a professional business suit, even in the hospital and her makeup was tasteful, but almost excessive. Also, she had an air about her that made her feel unapproachable and Katie couldn't imagine ever having a casual conversation with her, much less ever feeling comfortable in her presence. In short, the woman looked like she had a big, ol' stick up her ass.

While Katie evaluated her biological mother, Erin also took the opportunity to size her daughter up. She had her father's dark hair and intense eyes, but she saw her nose and cheekbones on the girl. Just seeing Dave in her made her much more confident of her decision to not pursue a relationship with the girl; she knew that every time she saw her, she would see Dave and she knew she wouldn't be able to handle that.

Even though Katie was sizing her up, the teen wore a friendly look on her face and Erin was afraid she was going to invite her to sit down and she did not want that to happen.

"I just wanted to come by to thank you for what you did," Erin said formally, as though she was talking to a stranger and not her own flesh and blood. "I know the procedure was difficult for you, but-"

"She's my sister," Katie interrupted softly, "I would do anything for her."

"Well…yes…she may be your sister, but only by blood and I would like to keep it that way," Erin said. "I think it's better for everyone that way, don't you? Let's face it, you and your dad have a good relationship and my girls and I are close and I don't think either one of us wants to change that; neither of us needs a new complication in our lives."

Katie just stared at her hands as she blinked back her tears; she would NOT cry in front of the woman who gave birth to her, she refused to let her know that she'd hurt her, but really? Her biological mother saw her as a complication? She was just about to respond when her father came back into the room.

"The nurses said you could have some Sprite, Belle, so I got you some from the caf-" He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw who her visitor was. "What are you doing here, Erin?" He asked with an edge to his voice.

"I just came by to thank your daughter for donating her bone marrow to Clara," Strauss said.

Dave glanced at Katie and saw she was struggling not to cry. "Katie's had enough for one day, so I think you should leave Erin."

Strauss, who had only meant to stay for a minute or two, nodded and then left without another word.

"Are you okay, Katie Belle?" Dave asked.

She nodded and wiped her eyes, "I'm fine," she said.

"Are you sure?" Her dad asked. "Did Erin say something to upset you? Do you want to talk about it?"

"I _said _I'm fine, so just let it go!" Katie said sharply and then sighed, "Sorry dad, it's just been a long day and I'm starting to hurt again."

Dave picked up the call button and pressed it. "Let's see if we can get you some more pain medication."

"Okay," Katie agreed, "After that, you can head home if you want to."

Dave snorted, "Nothing doing, I'm not leaving here until you do," he told her. "This recliner will work as a bed for me tonight."

Katie was about to protest, but then she realized that she really wanted her dad to stay, so she didn't refute his offer.

"Hey dad?" She said as she snuggled down into her blankets. "Thanks for being…well, you," she said, not knowing how to explain it but after getting a taste of her biological mother's coldness, she was glad she had her dad with her. The guy could drive her nuts and she was sure he would before the week was over, but at least she was sure that he loved her and she knew he would do anything for her.

Dave, not knowing what she meant but guessing it had something to do with meeting Strauss, just nodded and patted her hand. "Any time, honey."


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 14

**~A little fluff before we move on to darker things. Enjoy!**

* * *

"It is SO nice to be home," Katie said as she stepped into the kitchen of the townhouse from the garage. As she looked around, she breathed in deeply through her nose. "Smell that?" She asked her dad.

Dave, who was right behind her, breathed in as well and said, "I don't smell anything, Belle."

"Exactly! It doesn't reek of hospital in here! The smell alone in that place was enough to make me sick."

"You have a point," her dad said, "But now that you're home, why don't you change into your pajamas and get comfy on the couch?"

Katie nodded and made her way towards the stairs but was stopped before she reached them. "Where are you going? I don't want you taking the stairs yet."

"But my pj's are up there," Katie said, confused.

Dave shook his head, "There are some in the laundry room, I washed them before we left." He popped into the small room off of the kitchen and then returned carrying her Hello Kitty pajamas, which were her favorite.

"Thanks dad," she said, touched that he had purposely washed her favorite pajamas and kept them on the first floor so she wouldn't have to trek upstairs and add more pain to her already sore back and hips.

"Sure thing honey; why don't you change in the living room? I'm going to be busy in here fixing lunch and I'll bring it in when I'm done."

"Okay," the teen agreed and took one step towards the living room before she felt her dad beside her, gripping her arm lightly. "Dad, the living room is ten feet away from the kitchen, I'll be fine."

Dave shook his head and continued to walk with her. "The doctors said you might have trouble walking for the next couple of days and you're on painkillers which make you dizzy. Until you're doing better, I'm going to be your shadow." By the time Dave finished his explanation, they had arrived in the living room and he helped her sit down on the sofa. "Any requests for lunch?"

Katie shook her head, "I'm not very hungry," she said and got a frown in return.

"You have to eat, Belle; you can't take your medicine on an empty stomach. How about some of my homemade chicken soup?"

She thought for a minute and then nodded, "That sounds good."

"Great, you get settled in here and maybe take a short nap while I fix it," he suggested as he put one of her bed pillows and a favorite blanket next to her on the sofa. He had her bring those down from her room before they left for the cabin so they would be waiting for her when she got home.

Katie nodded and picked up her pajamas, which was Dave's cue to leave.

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Four hours later, after a filling lunch and a pain pill, Katie awoke to find her dad watching an episode of NCIS on the DVR. She winced as she sat up and rubbed the spots where they took the marrow from.

"Sore?" Dave asked.

Katie nodded, "Yeah, but not as bad as before," she told him and then slowly stood up.

"Where are you going?" Her dad asked as he also stood.

"I want to take a shower; I smell like the hospital."

"Too bad, both of the showers are on the second floor," Dave said.

"Come on dad! I haven't showered in two days, I smell like hospital and I feel like crap. I want a shower!" She whined as she gave him puppy dog eyes. As expected, he crumbled right in front of her.

"Fine," he grumbled and she grinned in victory as she walked the few feet towards the stairs. Before her foot hit the first step, her dad swung her into his arms and began the climb to the second floor.

"Dad, I can walk!" She protested, embarrassed that her father was carrying her as if she was a small child.

"Get over it, Katie Belle; until you're 100% again, I'm going to be helping you do things and that includes carrying you up the stairs."

"Whatever," she muttered as the made it to the top of the stairs. She expected her dad to set her on her feet, but he carried her to the bathroom and sat her down on the closed toilet.

"What do you need?" He asked and Katie thought for a minute.

"A pair of fresh pajamas would be nice," she said. "I know I've only been wearing these for a few hours, but the hospital smell has transferred from me to them. Plus, I'm a little warm in these."

"Okay, where do you keep your pajamas?"

"In my top dresser drawer; there are pajama shorts and tank tops," she told him and then turned slightly red. "Um, I also need underwear, that's in the top drawer too."

"Okay," he said and left the room. He returned momentarily carrying the underwear, pajamas and a large bath towel. "Here you go," he said as he handed her the items.

"Thanks."

"So I'm going to leave you now, but the bathroom door stays open."

"Daaaaaaddddd!" Katie protested, stretching the one word into four syllables.

Dave shook his head, "It doesn't have to be wide open, but I want to be able to hear you if you need help. I'll be in my room reading a book so I won't be able to see anything."

"You'll stay in your room unless you hear me call out for help?"

Dave nodded and held up three fingers, "Scouts honor."

"Okay," the teen relented. Dave left the room and she left the door about a quarter of the way open before she stepped under the hot spray.

After her shower, Katie decided to lie down in her own bed. Her dad, of course, had to help her into bed and then tucked her in as if she was eight years old, which both annoyed her and made her feel safe. He kissed her on the forehead and was about to leave the room when she asked, "Why does she have to be that way?"

"Who?" Her father asked.

"My…Erin, why does she have to be so cold?"

"What exactly did she say to you yesterday?" Dave asked as he sat down on the edge of her bed.

Katie shook her head, "At first she was nice…cold, but nice. She thanked me for donating my bone marrow to Clara and then…" The teen trailed off.

"And then what?" Dave asked, getting angry. Sick child or not, if Erin had been a bitch to his daughter, then she was going down. End of story.

"She called me a complication," the teen said softly. "She told me it was best for everyone if things remained the way the currently are between all of us. She said she didn't need another complication in her life and she was talking about _me_."

Goddammit! His daughter had gone through a painful procedure to help _her _daughter and Erin was still an unbelievable bitch towards her! What the fuck was wrong with her? Dave knew he wouldn't be able to let it go and he also knew he would be having words with Erin in the near future; if she didn't want to be a part of Katie's life, then fine, but then leave her the fuck alone! It would be better for Katie to not know her at all than to be constantly beaten down by the woman who gave birth to her.

"I'm sorry honey," Dave said. "Erin is…well, Erin has always been tactless and unfeeling and now that she's focusing on her sick daughter, it's even worse; I'm sure she didn't mean it the way it sounded." He was lying through his teeth, but he knew his daughter needed reassurances right now.

"Maybe you're right," Katie said, still unconvinced.

"I know I am," Dave said confidently as he stood up. "You try and get some sleep and I'll have dinner waiting for you when you wake up."

"Okay," Katie said. "Hey dad? Are you going to be like this all week?"

"What do you think?" Dave replied with a smirk.

"Just checking," Katie said with a sigh as she snuggled under her blanket. While his protectiveness could sometimes be a pain in the ass, Katie was grateful for it right now because it let her know that at least _one _of her biological parents wanted her.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 15

* * *

The next two months went smoothly for Dave and his daughter. Katie recovered from the bone marrow donation within the normal timeframe and by the end of November, the procedure was a distant memory in her mind. She'd heard from her father that Clara Strauss was doing well and had tolerated her new bone marrow with few complications and had gone home a few weeks after the transplant. While she hadn't heard anything more from her biological mother, Katie was happy that her sister was getting healthy.

Like his daughter, Dave was also glad that the ordeal of the bone marrow donation and transplant was behind them and he was grateful Katie had never found out how close her sister came to dying from the medical procedure. He hadn't outright lied to her, but he also hadn't told her the entire truth about her sister's handling of the new bone marrow. While he had told her there had been a few complications, he neglected to tell her that an episode of rejection had almost killed Clara; she didn't need that kind of worry in her life. In fact, Dave probably wouldn't have known about it if he hadn't gone to the hospital to rip Erin a new one for being so cold to his daughter. When he arrived, he found Erin in tears while the nurses transferred Clara to the pediatric ICU. That took the wind out of his sails and he knew he couldn't tear into Erin after that.

While he felt bad for Erin, having a sick child and all, he was glad Katie's part in everything was done and things were able to go back to normal for them. Even though his daughter had gone through a lot, not only medically but also psychologically, he was glad to see that it hadn't affected her as much as it probably should have and he thanked his lucky stars that she was able to adjust so well. Now, if only he could say that about his best friend and unit chief.

When it came to Aaron Hotchner, Dave felt totally helpless; he couldn't imagine having to send Katie away and he would die if he didn't know where she was and how she was doing, so he could sympathize with his friend but he really couldn't do anything to help him. Dave knew, though, that thoughts of his ex-wife and son were consuming him and were affecting him both personally and professionally, although having Derek as the acting unit chief seemed to take some stress off Hotch and he had relaxed a little bit.

And then Foyet came back into their lives and threw everything into a tailspin.

To say the team was blindsided was putting it mildly; in all of their wildest dreams they never thought Foyet would lure Hailey and Jack back to their house and attack them there, but he had and they had been too late to save Hailey. Once the team arrived at the house and found Foyet and Hailey dead and Hotch and Jack alive, they put their emotions aside and helped their fellow teammate and his son.

An hour after arriving on the scene, Derek approached him shaking his head slightly. "Dave, we have a problem."

Dave shook his own head tiredly; they had more than one problem but he knew it wasn't the right time for sarcastic comebacks. "What's the matter, Derek?"

"Hotch won't go to the hospital," the acting unit chief told him.

"He has to," Dave replied, "He took numerous blows to the head, not to mention his face is still bleeding."

"I told him that, made it a direct order even, and all he did was shake his head and hug Jack tighter."

"Damn," Dave sighed, it wasn't going to be easy to get his stubborn unit chief to seek medical attention, but it needed to be done. "Leave it to me Derek; I'll get him to the hospital even if I have to cuff him to the damn ambulance."

A look of relief washed over the other man's face, "Thanks Dave, I owe you one." Acting unit chief or not, Morgan knew that Dave was the only person who had a chance of getting Hotch to the hospital.

Dave made his way to the steps, but before he started up them, he was struck by another thought. He quickly detoured into the bedroom off to the side of the stairs, picked up his phone and dialed.

"Johnson," the person at the other end answered.

"Mac? It's Dave; I need you to do something for me." Mac Johnson was one of the private security guys Dave had hired to keep an eye on Katie and Dave knew it was his day to watch the townhouse from the street.

"What's the matter Dave? Did something happen?" Dave gave the man the rundown of the day's events and then said, "I don't want Katie finding out about this before I get home but the goddamn media vultures are everywhere. I need you to go into the backyard and disconnect the cable from the house; that way Katie won't see it on TV and she won't come across it online."

Mac agreed to do it and, with his daughter taken care of, at least temporarily, Dave moved on to his best friend. He quickly climbed the stairs and found Hotch back in the office, holding onto Jack like he was a lifeline.

Dave knelt down next to them, "How are you doing Aaron?" He asked softly, not wanting to wake the dozing boy.

"I'm fine Dave," Hotch said in a shaky voice and Dave could see that the other man looked absolutely defeated.

"You're _not _fine, Hotch," Dave said quietly but firmly. "You've been through a horrific ordeal, not to mention you took numerous blows to the head and face; you need to go to the hospital."

Hotch clutched his son tighter and shook his head, "I'm all he has now, I can't let him go," he said in a cracking voice.

"I'm not asking you to let him go," Dave said soothingly. "I'll come with you and while the doctors are checking you over, I'll hold Jack. He won't be alone Aaron, I promise." Seeing the look of indecision on the other man's face, Dave decided to twist the knife a little. "Come on Aaron, after all of this, do you want Jack to see you drop dead of a sub-arachnoid bleed?"

The guilt worked and Hotch slowly stood up and walked down to the waiting ambulance with Jack still safely in his arms. Dave kept his promise and rode in with them and while Hotch was having a CT scan, he held Jack as he slept.

Once Hotch got a fairly clean bill of health, other than a concussion and numerous cuts and bruises, Dave drove them back to Hotch's apartment and walked them inside. As he'd hoped, Prentiss was waiting for them and she was prepared to stay overnight in case Hotch or Jack needed anything. Bidding the three of them a sad goodnight, Dave then drove back to his own house and wondered how in the hell he was going to tell his daughter that her surrogate mother/big sister had been murdered in cold blood. He was having a hard enough time keeping it together himself; despite the fact that Hailey had broken his best friend's heart when she left him, Dave considered the woman to be a close friend. Hell, he trusted her with Katie's safety and well-being and he didn't do that with too many people and, most importantly, he genuinely liked Hailey and losing her would be a blow to both him and Katie.

As soon as the image of his daughter popped into his mind, Dave was consumed by an overwhelming feeling of panic and despair. What if that had been him today? What if there had been a madman inside _his_ house, terrorizing _his_ daughter? What if he had been too far away to save her? Hotch's scenario was literally his worst nightmare come to life. As those thoughts hit him, he had to pull over to the side of the road to throw up; even though his daughter was safe and sound, he knew that someday it _could _be him in that situation.

Once his emotions were under control, he pulled back onto the road and continued to the townhouse. He felt his stomach sink as he pulled into his driveway and, for the first time ever, he did not want to go into his house and see his daughter. He pulled the car into the garage, took a deep breath and exited the SUV. He took another breath, squared his shoulders and entered the house, where he found Katie dancing in the kitchen as she made her famous pumpkin pies. Without saying a word, he stood and watched her for a minute, wanting her to be carefree for a little while longer because not only would Hailey's death rock her world, the violent way in which she died would also frighten her, especially since it came directly as a result of Hotch's job with the BAU. Dave knew that his daughter would quickly put that part of the equation together and she would realize that if it could happen to Hailey, it could happen to her as well.

Katie, who had plugged her iPod into the stereo speakers when she couldn't get the TV to work, was dancing and singing along with it as she baked her pies. She and her dad were going to her friend Kayla's house for Thanksgiving the next day and she was bringing the dessert. She was so into her task that she didn't hear the garage door open and she didn't realize her father was home until she turned around and saw him watching her.

"Oh my God!" She yelled when she saw him. "You scared the heck out of me! You're lucky I wasn't carrying one of the pies or else you would have been up baking all night," she said with a smile.

"Sorry Katie Belle, but maybe if you didn't have your iPod turned up to airplane decibel, you would've heard me come in," he said with a slight smile on his face.

The teen scrunched up her face in thought, "Maybe you're right," she agreed, "But I couldn't get the TV to work, so I cranked up my music. I think there's something wrong with the cable."

"I'll check it in the morning," he said as crossed the kitchen and opened the cabinet that held his scotch. He grabbed the bottle, poured a healthy amount in a glass and drank it quickly before putting it away again. He turned back towards his daughter and saw an astonished look on her face; he didn't drink around her often, other than an occasional glass of wine, so she was surprised that he had beelined it toward the hard stuff.

"Jeez dad, did you have a bad day or something?" She asked.

"Or something," he muttered. "I need to talk to you, Belle," he said as he sat down at the kitchen table. Katie didn't move, so he pushed one of the chairs out with his foot and motioned for her to sit.

"I'm kinda nervous," she said with a shaky smile as she sat down. "The last time you 'needed to talk to me,' you told me my mother had adopted me. What is it this time? Did you adopt me too?"

"No, you're all mine," he said and then took a deep breath. "Honey, Foyet found Hailey and Jack today."

"Oh God," the teen said as she turned pale. She knew who Foyet was and she knew this was bad. "Are they okay?" She immediately knew by the look on her father's face that they were _not_ all right and his answer confirmed it.

"Jack is fine, other than a bit shaken up," he told her, "But he killed Hailey, sweetie."

"What?" Katie whispered. "No!"

Dave nodded as tears sprung to his eyes. "I'm so sorry Belle." He tried to take her hand, but she jerked it out of his reach and jumped to her feet.

"She can't be dead! You're wrong! Somebody told you the wrong thing!"

"Honey, I saw her body myself," Dave said softly.

A look of pure anguish came upon her face and then, just as quickly, the look changed from anguish to one of someone trying desperately to keep control over their emotions. Katie closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then stood up. "How are Aaron and Jack?" She asked as she walked over to where her pies were cooling.

"They're okay; Hotch has a concussion, Jack is scared and they're both reeling from what happened but Emily's there in case they need anything."

"That's good," Katie said in a barely controlled voice. Her back was to Dave, but he could tell she was barely hanging on. "I told Kayla that I would also make the cranberry sauce for tomorrow, so I should get started on that." He watched her hands shake as she moved the pies onto the counter and then reached for a saucepan. He knew exactly what she was doing; she was struggling to push Hailey's death into a box in her mind; she was _his _daughter and therefore she had learned how to compartmentalize from the master, but he didn't want her to do it now because he knew it would eat her up inside.

"Come back and talk to me, Katie," he said softly as he stood up.

"No! No, I can't, I have to get this done for tomorrow and then I should also make something to take over to Aaron and Jack, they probably won't be eating too well and I don't want them to go hungry and they've always been good about taking care of me, so-" her tearful rambling was cut off when her dad came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Honey, you can't ignore what happened today…you're sad and upset and it's okay to let your emotions show."

She turned and faced him and he saw the shattered expression on her face. "But…I have too much to do and-" Once again her dad cut off her rambling, but this time he did it by pulling her into his arms. As soon as her face hit his chest and she breathed in his familiar…his _safe_ scent, she felt the dam burst and soon she was sobbing and holding onto him for dear life.

Dave led her to the living room, sat down on the couch, pulled her onto his lap and let her cry her heart out; he knew that with everything she'd been through during the past few months, the tears she was shedding were not just for Hailey, but for everything else as well. He held her tightly as her sobs turned into sniffles and then he finally felt her breathing even out. He looked down and saw that she was wiping her face on his shirt.

"Are you okay?" He asked, knowing she wasn't. Unsurprisingly, she shook her head.

"Not really…I'm going to miss her," she said in a teary voice.

"Me too, Katie Belle, me too," he told her as he continued to hold her.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 16

* * *

"How're you doing, honey?" Dave asked as they drove from the cemetery to the restaurant where the dinner was being held. It was the day of Hailey's funeral and Dave was worried about his daughter's state of mind. The past four days had been a blur of interviews and meetings and thankfully, since it was a holiday weekend, Dave had been able to leave Katie with her friend Kayla and her father during the day so she wouldn't be alone; he didn't want her sitting in the empty townhouse dwelling on Hailey's death. What he really wanted to do was help her through it but she wasn't letting anyone in.

They had dinner together each evening, but neither of them ate much; they were too focused on their own thoughts about what had happened to the Hotchner family. After dinner they went their separate ways, Katie to her room and Dave to his study where he tried to work on the various consultations that still came rolling in to the BAU. He really wished he could've taken the past four days off but he was needed at the BAU. Derek could play the part of acting unit chief all he wanted but when it came down to it, he was the one with the most seniority and he was the one who had contacts in high places so it became his job to deal with the bullshit from the higher ups and he knew he had to be there to protect Hotch from any fallout over his actions with Foyet.

"I'm fine," Katie said quietly as she stared out the window. She seemed like she was a million miles away and Dave wasn't quite sure how to reach her. With all that had gone on in her life over the past few months, he knew her mind was on overload, but he didn't know how to help her without pushing her.

"Did you forget what I do for a living?" He asked with a small smile.

The teen sighed; it really sucked living with a human lie detector. "What can I say dad? I'm sad, okay?"

"It's okay to feel sad honey; I just wish you'd talk to me about it." She'd barely said ten words to anybody since she'd cried her heart out on his lap and it worried him. Throughout the ordeal of learning she had been adopted by her mother and her biological mother not wanting her, she had remained vocal in her feelings, VERY vocal, too vocal at times but at least she had expressed her feelings. The quiet, the pulling into herself she was doing now scared him but short of ordering her to talk to him, he knew he couldn't do much, she had to grieve on her own. He held his own sigh back as she shrugged and turned back to stare out of the passenger side window. The rest of their ride was spent in silence.

Once they got to the restaurant, they found Hotch standing by the door greeting people. Katie had seen him at the funeral, but this was the first time she had gotten a really good look at him and she was surprised at how much older he looked. Not only did his face still bear evidence of his battle with Foyet, it seemed more lined and his hair seemed a bit more gray and he just looked…defeated.

Not knowing what else to do, Katie hugged him and whispered, "I'm so sorry, Aaron." He hugged her back and she could feel him shaking a little.

Once her dad paid his respects, they walked towards an empty table and sat down. They were some of the first to arrive, so they had their choice of tables and Dave had chosen one that was right in the middle of the room. They sat in silence for the next five minutes as they watched various people arrive at the dinner.

Dave, who was paying more attention to the arrivals than his daughter was, since he knew everyone, spotted Strauss as she arrived and he was grateful that Katie hadn't seen her. He watched as she paid Aaron her respects and then moved towards the left side of the room.

"I've got to go say hi to someone; will you be okay by yourself for a few minutes?" The teen nodded and he got to his feet. "Do you want something to drink?"

"A sprite please," she answered softly.

"Okay Belle, I'll be right back." With that he left his daughter and made his way to his one-time lover.

"Erin," he said as he approached her.

She gave him a curt nod, "David."

"Katie's with me, Erin. I'm letting you know so you know stay away from us; the absolute _last _thing my daughter needs is for you to be…well, _you_ towards her today."

"Really David? You're going to start with me _here_, of all places?"

He nodded, "Considering the last time you spoke to my daughter you called her a complication and told her you didn't want her in your life or your daughter's lives…yeah, I'm going to start with you."

"I wouldn't dream of upsetting Katie; I know she was close to Agent Hotchner's wife and I know she's upset. As for what I said to her…I was in a bad place then, David. I had a daughter who was close to death and I wasn't thinking straight. There have been many times since then when I've considered calling her to apologize for my words and actions."

"Don't," he said firmly. "She's gotten past all that and she doesn't need you hurting her or confusing her again. Just stay out of her life, Erin."

The section chief pursed her lips. "Maybe it would be best if I left."

"Maybe it would be," he agreed.

"Fine," she said icily as she reached for her purse. She looked like she was about to say something else, but the look on Dave's face stopped her and she left without saying another word.

xxxxxxxxxx

The team, minus Rossi and Hotch, arrived together and, after paying their respects to their unit chief, they made their way to the bar before going to a table. With her drink firmly in hand, Garcia turned away from the bar and scouted for a table that would hold the team, Will and Kevin. As her eyes perused the room, they fell upon a lone girl sitting at a rather large table by herself.

"Oh my God," she said.

"What is it, Babygirl?" Morgan asked as he followed her gaze.

"I think that's Katie Rossi," she told him. The rest of the group had overheard their exchange and were also staring at the young teen.

"Should we go over?" Reid asked.

"Heck yeah we should go over!" Garcia exclaimed. "If we don't take advantage now, Rossi might block us until she's twenty!"

Without a backwards glance at her friends, Penelope strode over to the table and set her drink down. Katie, who had been staring at the table, looked up and was surprised to see that it wasn't her father. "You've got to be Katie Rossi," the woman said as she sat in her father's seat.

Katie nodded, "Yes, but how did you know that?"

"Oh honey, you are the spitting image of your father," Garcia said and watched as the girl made a face. "Wait, I don't mean that you look like a man, I mean there are similarities between you and your dad." By this time, the rest of the group had caught up with Garcia and they were all sitting down as well.

"Um, are you my dad's team?" She asked, a bit shyly. She wasn't used to being ambushed by this many adults at once.

Garcia nodded, "Most of us are," she said. "I'm Penelope, the technical goddess of our team." That got a small smile from Katie, so Garcia continued as she went around the table. "This is Derek Morgan, also known as my chocolate thunder, this is boy genius Spencer Reid, these are my bff's JJ and Emily, the hunk next to her is her boyfriend Will and this nerdy guy is my sweetie Kevin."

By the time Garcia had finished introducing everyone, Katie's smile had grown and she greeted her father's team members. Dave, who arrived a moment later, set Katie's soda down in front of her and said, "So I see you've met everyone."

Katie nodded but before she could say anything, Garcia jumped in. "I'm sorry Agent Rossi, I know you didn't want her to be a part of things with the BAU but she looked lonely sitting here all by herself and I-" Dave interrupted her explanation.

"It's fine, Penelope," he said and he meant it. He hadn't seen Katie smile since she'd learned about Hailey and if Garcia could do in two minutes what he'd been trying to do for the past four days, then he would take it, even if it meant his home life and his work life were now intertwined.

Once the sandwiches were set out on the buffet, everyone at the table grabbed one and then sat back down. As they ate, JJ, Emily and Garcia kept up a steady stream of light conversation with Katie and Dave was pleased to see that she ate her entire sandwich and most of her potato chips. He made a mental note to buy the three women nicer Christmas presents this year.

Another hour went by and Dave saw that Hotch was still standing near the door. He got up, got two glasses of scotch and relieved him from his post. They talked for a few minutes before Derek interrupted them.

"Sorry Dave, but we have a case."

"Right now?" Dave asked incredulously.

"Yeah, it's a pretty bad one," Derek said and then turned to his friend and boss. "I'm really sorry Hotch, but we're the only ones available."

Hotch nodded, "Of course, I understand."

Dave and Derek walked back to the table and found the team gathering up their belongings. "Sorry Katie Belle," Dave said to his daughter, "I've got to go on this case."

She nodded, "Who am I going to stay with?"

Damn, he hadn't thought that far ahead. Since Hailey and Jack had gone into witness protection, Katie had been staying with her friend Kayla and her family while he'd gone out of town on cases, but their housekeeper/nanny was on vacation this week so that wasn't an option.

Garcia, seeing the look on Dave's face, announced, "You'll stay with me, sweets."

Dave shook his head, "Garcia, you don't have to do this."

"Nonsense," she said, "I _want _to do this. Besides, it will give your daughter plenty of time to tell me plenty of embarrassing stories about you."

"Great," he groaned and then turned to his daughter, "I know it's not the perfect scenario, but are you okay with this, honey?"

Katie bit her lip and thought for a moment; she had just met Garcia, but she could already tell that she was really cool and she was fairly sure they would get along well. Besides, this was her dad's job and he had to go. "I'll be fine," she told him. "You go get the bad guy."

He pulled her into his arms and gave her a hug goodbye, "I will Belle, and you listen to Garcia, okay?"

Katie nodded as she pulled out of his embrace, "Stay safe dad; I love you." It was the same thing she always told him as he left to go on a case.

He nodded, "I love you too." With that the team left and Garcia and Katie just looked at each other for a minute.

"Come on, let's head to the BAU," Garcia said and then she linked her arm through Katie's. "So what's the most craziest thing your dad has ever done?"


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 17

* * *

Katie struggled to balance both the tote bag that was on her shoulder and the heavy pan she was holding as she raised her right fist and knocked on the door in front of her. After a moment, one in which she almost dropped everything, the door opened and revealed a tired looking Hotch standing in the doorway.

"Katie!" He exclaimed, surprised to see the girl at his doorstep not only because she hadn't called first, but also because it was one o'clock in the afternoon and she should have been in school. Seeing her struggle under the weight of her wares, he took the heavy tray of lasagna from her and then stepped back so she could enter the apartment.

Jack, who had been unpacking his toys at his new home, looked up to see who the visitor was. "KATIE!" He shouted and then practically knocked her as he jumped into her arms and hugged her. The teen, who was glad to see that her young friend seemed to be in good spirits, all things considered, hugged him back.

"I haven't seen you in _forever_," Jack said as he pulled out of the hug; he'd spent most of the funeral with his cousins so they hadn't seen each other there. "I'm living here now with daddy!"

"I know!" She said, "You're a lot closer to me and my dad now, so we'll be able to see each other a lot."

"What did you bring us?" Jack asked as he peered into one of the bags.

"Jack, that's not polite," Hotch admonished, but on the inside he was happy; this was the first time in days that his son was acting even remotely normal, so he couldn't get mad at him.

"But daddy," Jack whined, "Katie makes the _best_ chocolate chip cookies."

"Still, you don't go through somebody else's things without permission."

"Okay," the little boy pouted and then looked up at the teenager. "Katie, can I please look in the bag?"

"Go ahead," she said with a grin. After a few seconds, both she and Hotch heard a loud "YAY!" As Jack pulled out a Ziploc bag full of cookies.

"You brought us a feast," Hotch said as they finally moved into the kitchen so he could set the tray of lasagna down on the counter.

"I figured you guys probably haven't been eating too well with all that's happened and the move and everything," she told him as she pulled a loaf of bread out of the bag and set it down on the counter.

"You figured correctly," he told her. "Thank you for the food, but shouldn't you be in school?"

The teen shook her head, "There's a teacher in-service so I only had a half a day of school. Garcia and I put this together last night and she said it was okay if I brought it to you this afternoon instead of hanging out at the BAU with her."

"Your dad has you staying with Garcia?" Hotch asked. "I guess that makes sense," he answered himself thinking of how much the quirky tech had always wanted to meet Rossi's daughter. "How do you like her apartment?"

Katie smiled, "It's great! She has some really cool stuff, but we're staying at my house. She said it makes sense since there's a room for her and it's closer to my school and the BAU. Anyway," she said as she picked up her bag, "I should go so the two of you can keep unpacking; when you're ready to eat, just put the lasagna in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes."

"Why don't you stay? I'll throw this in the oven and we'll have a late lunch; Jack and I haven't seen you in months and we can all get caught up. Besides, I think he'll be happier if you stay."

"God, you're as bad as my dad with the guilt trips," she said with a smile, "Do they teach you that in the FBI academy?"

"First day," Hotch responded dryly.

"Fine, I'll stay," she said as she shrugged out of her jacket and hung it on the back of one of the kitchen chairs.

"YAY! You're staying!" Jack exclaimed as he ran back into the living room, this time holding some of his action figures.

"You're supposed to be putting those away, Buddy, not adding to the mess."

"But daddy, Katie's here! We can play with them!"

"I'll make sure they get put away," Katie told Hotch, who nodded and then put the lasagna in the oven. Everything was peaceful for the next fifteen minutes; Katie and Jack played with his toys while Hotch unpacked his son's clothing and other, less fun, items. Everyone paused when there was a knock at the door. Katie and Jack remained on the floor while Hotch checked the peephole.

"Oh shit," he muttered to himself when he saw his section chief standing on the other side of the door. With all that had happened, he'd forgotten that she was coming by that afternoon. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and greeted her.

"Chief Strauss, please come in," he said as he held the door open for her.

"Thank you Agent Hotch-" That was as far as she got before she saw her daughter playing on the floor with Jack. The absolute last thing she'd expected to see was that and she briefly wondered if Aaron had set her up, but when she saw the deer in the headlights look on Katie's face and the look of apprehension and stress on Hotch's face, she knew it was a coincidence.

"Hello Katie," she said warmly.

Katie, not knowing what to call the woman in front of her, simply said, "Hello ma'am."

Erin winced when she heard her daughter's response; she sounded like many of the agents under her command. Sure, they were all polite to her, but that's all it was, she knew that none of them liked her or felt any sort of affection towards her and she knew her daughter felt the same way.

"Jack, can you say hello to Chief Strauss?" Hotch asked, mostly as a way to cut some of the tension in the room.

Jack looked up from the toy he was playing with and gave a little wave, "Hi."

"Hi Jack," Erin said absently, her eyes still glued to her daughter. When she'd first seen the girl at the hospital, she could've sworn she was the spitting image of her father, but now she could see many of her own features in her and it was amazing...it had finally hit her that this girl was her flesh and blood. It didn't matter who had raised her, she was still a part of her.

"Katie brought a late lunch for Jack and I and she decided to stay and eat with us," Hotch explained, not wanting his boss to think he set all of this up.

A genuine smile spread across the teen's face and Erin was amazed at how it brightened her whole demeanor. "Plus, I haven't seen these two in a while and we have some catching up to do, don't we Jack?" She asked as she tickled his ribs. Strauss watched as the two kids interacted and she felt a longing to be a part of it.

"Katie, can you take Jack to his room while Chief Strauss and I talk?" Hotch asked and he was relieved when she nodded and pulled Jack up by the hand.

"Come on, Jack-o-lantern, let's go see what else you have in your room." The two adults watched as the kids made their way out of the room and down the small hallway towards Jack's room.

As they reached his room, Jack looked up at her and said solemnly, "My mommy's in heaven with the angels."

Katie bit her lip to keep her tears at bay and responded, "So is mine." With that they closed the door and let the adults talk.

Erin stayed at the Hotchner residence just long enough to harangue Hotch into taking the early retirement package and she was a bit put out that he didn't sign the papers right away, but she agreed to give him some time. After that, there was nothing left to talk about and she left, still somewhat in a daze.

When she heard Katie tell Jack that her mom was also in heaven, it hit her like a ton of bricks; _she _wanted to be Katie's mother! If there was one thing the events surrounding Hailey Hotchner's death had taught her was that life was too short and she realized today that she wanted to spend time with her fourth daughter. She wanted to get to know her and, by God, she wanted to have a relationship with her. Ever since Clara had started to get better, Erin had felt the stirrings of maternal instincts towards Katie, and those instincts had just been kicked into overdrive. She knew Dave wouldn't be happy about it, but she could no longer deny that she had a fourth daughter; she could no longer pretend that Katie Rossi didn't exist.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 18

* * *

"Hey Katie, what's up?" Rossi said as he answered his phone.

"Hi dad, I have a few more things to add to the list," she said as she began to fire off the items she needed from the grocery store.

It was less than a week after Hailey's funeral and only two days since the team had gotten back from the case in Nashville and Dave was exhausted, but he'd somehow let his daughter and Penelope Garcia talk him into hosting a late Thanksgiving feast at the cabin at Little Creek. Katie had guilted him into it by pointing out that no one had been able to really celebrate the holiday because of the tragedy that had befallen the Hotchners and didn't he think the team needed a break from the gloom and doom of the past few months? It didn't help when Garcia had pointed out that the team had been ordered into stand down until after Christmas so that everyone could regroup and regain their bearings after the events of the past few weeks. After a few minutes of pleading and puppy dog eyes on their parts, he'd begrudgingly agreed to play host to the shindig. Both women had squealed loud enough to break the windows and they'd assured him they would take care of everything. Funny how 'taking care of everything' meant he would be spending the next hour or two in a grocery store.

Dave tried to jot everything down, but his daughter was speaking as fast as an auctioneer, a trait she no doubt learned from her past few days under Garcia's tutelage.

"And make sure you get the Russet potatoes because they're the best for mashed potatoes," Katie said. "Last year you got Yukon Golds and they tasted funny and they had a weird consistency and-"

"Okay honey," Dave interrupted, "I get it; I'm a monster and I almost ruined last year's Thanksgiving with my mistake over the potatoes. But Katie Belle? Could you please call Garcia and put one main list together? Because between your four phone calls and her seven emails, I honestly have no idea what I'm all getting at the store tonight."

"Sure dad, I'll coordinate with Pen and then have her email you one large list," she said and Dave could hear the smile in her voice.

"Not too large," Dave pleaded. "It's Friday night and _everyone's _going to be at the store."

"Yeah, sure…okay," the teen said and then changed the subject slightly. "Did you make sure to invite everyone?"

He nodded, forgetting she couldn't see him. "I emailed Reid, Emily, Morgan, JJ and Kevin. I also made sure to let JJ know to bring Will and Henry." As much as he'd wanted to keep his home and work lives separate, he knew he needed his teammates and vice versa and he also knew that, with Hailey gone, Katie would need some strong female role models and he couldn't think of anyone better than Garcia, Emily and JJ for that role.

"What about Aaron and Jack?"

"I called Hotch, honey, but I wouldn't hold my breath for them to come. They're still grieving over Hailey and I think they're trying to settle into a new routine."

"I know," Katie said, "But I want them to know they're invited."

"They are, Belle," Dave said as his desk phone began to ring. "I've got to take this call, honey, just be sure to coordinate with Garcia."

"'Kay dad."

Dave disconnected from his daughter and took the consultation call from Miami that he had been waiting for. After that, he worked on some files from the never ending stack of paperwork on his desk and before he knew it, Garcia was knocking on his door, holding the consolidated grocery list.

"Please tell me that thing isn't full," he begged looking at the large piece of paper.

"Sorry, mon capitan, but it is. It seems you don't keep the cabin well stocked," she said, handing him the list.

"It's stocked just fine, I just usually don't hold feasts for ten people there," he retorted.

Penelope smiled, "It's really nice of you to do all of this, Agent Rossi, I think everyone needs a chance to unwind after all that's happened."

"I think you're right," he agreed. "Besides, how could I say no to you and my daughter?"

"Who would've thought that David Rossi, legendary profiler would cave so easily to a couple of women?" Garcia asked with a grin.

"Hey, if it meant seeing my daughter happy again, I would do a lot more than this," he told her. After just three days with the woman in front of him, Katie regained much of her old spark and Dave was thankful for it. With all that had happened, he wasn't sure if he would ever get his old Katie back but it looked like she was slowly returning to him.

"I don't know what you did or said to my daughter, Garcia, but whatever it was, I want to thank you for it," Dave continued. "She's had a rough couple of months, but you got her to laugh again and she's been more like her old self since I've returned."

"I didn't do much, other than talk to her and listen to her when she needed it. You have a great kid, sir."

"Thanks Garcia, and thanks for watching her while we were Nashville; I'll ask around and find someone who can look after her on a more permanent basis while we're out of town," he promised, not wanting to put the technical analyst out for too long.

"Sir?" She asked. "You can leave her with me when you have to go out of town; you don't have to hire someone to take care of her."

Dave was surprised, "Are you sure, Garcia?"

The woman nodded her multi-colored head, "Yes sir, we got along great and she was easy to take care of. Besides, she needs someone to fill the 'big sister' space in her life and I'd like to be the one to do it."

"Well…okay," Dave said, nearly speechless; Garcia's offer solved a large problem for him since he wasn't keen on leaving Katie in the care of a complete stranger. "Of course I'll pay you."

"No you won't, sir," Garcia said firmly.

"Penelope, you're going to be giving up a lot of your free time and I want to compensate you for it," he argued.

"Did you pay Hailey?"

"No, but-"

"You're NOT paying me, Agent Rossi, and that's final," Garcia said stubbornly.

"Dammit Penelope, would you-"

The technical analyst interrupted his tirade. "Sir, you are coming dangerously close to pissing me off. Do you really want me to return to my lair like that?"

"No," he sighed, "I really don't, but we _are _going to discuss this at a later date."

"I look forward to it, sir," she told him sarcastically and then changed the subject. "I'm going to head out; would you please let Katie know that I'll be at the cabin by seven o'clock tomorrow morning to help her with the cooking? She already gave me the directions."

"Sure," he agreed, "But why don't you just come tonight and stay over? That way you won't have to get up at the ass crack of dawn to get to our place. Bring Kevin with you if you want to."

"Okay, that sounds great!" She said. "I have a couple of things to do, but we should be there by nine. Is that okay?"

"Sounds good," Dave told her. She left his office after that and he heard her call Kevin to let him know about the change of plans for the night. Smiling, he scrawled his signature on the last page of a case and then began packing up to go home. He was interrupted by a knock on his open door.

"Was something added to the list?" He asked, thinking it was Garcia. To his surprise and dismay, when he looked up, he saw his section chief standing in the doorway.

"We need to talk, David," she said and then closed the door behind her.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 19

* * *

"You know Erin," Dave began conversationally but inside his stomach was churning, "I've interviewed hundreds of serial killers and none of them have ever managed to raise my blood pressure like you do."

"Is that an insult or a compliment?" The section chief asked as she sat down in one of the chairs across from his desk.

"Most people would take it as an insult, but you? You should probably take it as a compliment."

"As much as I would love to trade barbs with you David, I actually came in here to discuss something of importance with you."

"And what would that be?" He asked dryly.

"Katie," Strauss responded.

"What about Katie?" Dave asked as he narrowed his eyes at her.

Erin took a deep breath, "I want to get to know her, I want to have some type of relationship with her."

"Absolutely not!" Dave exploded. "Just leave her the fuck alone, Erin!"

"I can't David, Clara's illness and Hailey Hotchner's death have shown me that life's too short. I don't want to look back on my relationship with Katie and have regrets," she told him.

"You know what I regret, Erin? I regret ever coming back here! I regret that I didn't move to the opposite side of the country with her after I retired!" He shouted. "I should have known you wouldn't leave her alone! You always want what you can't have, don't you Erin?"

"I'm sorry if this is upsetting to you, David-"

"Upsetting for me?" He interrupted in a yell. "If you were any kind of mother, you would be worried about upsetting Katie! It took her months to get over the bone marrow transplant and your continued rejection of her! And now, she's finally gotten over you and the idea that you might actually give a shit about her and you want to barge back into her life? What the fuck is WRONG with you? Just let it go!"

"I can't do that, she's my flesh and blood…she's my daughter for Christ's sake and I want to get to know her! What's wrong with that?" Erin yelled back at him.

"First of all, she is NOT your daughter! You never wanted her in the first place and you signed her over to me and Janet less than an hour after she was born. Hell, I think the ink on the waiver of maternity dried before Katie did!"

"That may be, but-"

Once again, Dave interrupted her. "Second, as for her being your flesh and blood, well, you really took advantage of that, didn't you? You took her bone marrow to save one of the daughters that you wanted and then you left her out in the cold!"

"And I regret that, but I was nearly out of my mind with worry over Clara!" Erin responded. "Can't you see that I wasn't thinking straight? I was terrified of losing my nine year old daughter!"

"It would have been nice if you'd had feelings like of worry towards Katie and _her _well being!" Dave bellowed.

The office became quiet for a minute, and then Strauss broke the silence. "I'm sorry you feel this way, David. I was hoping we could come up with some sort of arrangement casually, but if we can't I will be forced to take you to court for some sort of formal custody agreement."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Dave asked quietly but lethally and in that instance, without knowing it, Erin agreed with her daughter about Dave's temper; a quiet and angry David Rossi was _much_ scarier than a loud and angry David Rossi. Erin knew that if he wasn't bound by the rules of society, he would gladly take a swing at her.

"I assure you, I'm dead serious. I've already consulted my attorney and he doesn't think it's unreasonable for me to pursue a relationship with my daughter," she told him in the same calm voice as he used. "Don't you think it would be better for Katie if we didn't drag this through the court system?"

"Are you threatening me, Erin?" Dave asked in the same lethal tone.

"I'm making you a promise, David; let me get to know my daughter or I'll see you in court."

"Now that would be unfortunate," he told her in a deceptively calm voice. "Because if that happens, I'll be forced to take the stand and tell a little story about you and it will go something like this." He took a deep breath to gather his thoughts and then continued. "Once upon a time, there was a woman named Erin Strauss who was an up and comer at the FBI. She had a daughter and husband at home but she wasn't very happy with the husband. One night, she approached a fellow agent and told him how unhappy she was with her life and she assured him that, while she was still married, she and her husband were separated and she was certain they would file for divorce. Both agents, being consenting adults, engaged in a clandestine, sexual relationship for the next two months before Erin decided to return to her husband. The other agent, Dave, didn't hear from her for awhile after that, until she burst into his office and told him she was pregnant and he was the father. Dave immediately felt joy bubble up into his chest until Erin callously informed him that she would be aborting the pregnancy shortly and she was informing him in case he heard anything through the FBI rumor mill."

"Dave-" Erin tried interrupting, but Dave just held up his hand and continued with his story.

"Now Dave, who had always wanted children, begged Erin not to kill their baby and, after a week of non-stop pleading, she finally relented. She lied to her husband and daughter and went into hiding for the next eight months. Dave, not being very rich, still managed to pay for all of her living expenses and health care costs so she and the baby would be healthy. He also met a woman who loved him for who he was and she didn't mind that he had a child on the way with another woman; in fact, as time went by, she grew to love the idea and decided to marry Dave and adopt his daughter shortly after her birth. On the day of his daughter's birth, Dave rushed to the hospital in time to see be born but Erin wouldn't let him into the room and he missed it and he's always regretted it. Soon after their daughter's birth, Erin signed her rights away and never looked back, until one of her _other _daughters needed something. Fast forward thirteen years and we find Erin in the middle of a medical crisis with one of her wanted daughters and the only person who can save her is the daughter she walked away from…not just walked away from, but almost killed. Anyway, since one of her daughter's that she actually _cares _about needs something, Erin approaches Dave and threatens him into having his daughter undergo a painful and dangerous medical procedure in order to save her other daughter, all the while adamant in her declaration that she doesn't want a relationship with Dave's daughter and, in fact, visits Dave's daughter right after said medical procedure and tells her she's an unneeded complication in her life. It takes Dave's daughter a long time to get over what her biological mother said to her and when she finally does, Erin comes back into her life, demanding a relationship and throwing her world into chaos again!" As he spoke, Dave's voice got louder and louder and by the time he finished his 'story,' he was practically shaking the windows.

Erin's eyes narrowed and she said, through clenched teeth, "It would be unfortunate if you got on the stand and told that story, David, because I would then have to counter with a story of my own."

"Erin-" he began warningly but Strauss pressed on.

"No David, you got your chance and now it's my turn and, while my story is considerably shorter than yours, I think it will pack just as much of a punch," she told him. "My story goes something like this: Once upon a time, there was a man named David who thought he was God's gift to womankind. A new FBI agent, he screwed anything in a skirt; 'love 'em and leave 'em,' that was his motto. He used women and then left them when he got bored with them and he didn't care about their feelings or well-being. It was soon after his numerous indiscretions with various female FBI agents that the agency enacted anti-fraternization rules that are still in effect today."

"That's not me anymore, Erin," he said through clenched teeth.

She put up her hand to stop him. "It's my turn to speak now, David," she told him and then continued on with her story. "Fast forward thirteen years and we see David with two failed marriages behind him and god knows how many meaningless lays and NOW he's the sole parent of an impressionable thirteen year-old girl. Does he think of his daughter in the same way he thought of all of his past conquests? Does he see her as a lesser being? And if he doesn't, will he still pass on his attitudes towards women and make her feel like a second class citizen? Like someone whose feelings aren't worth much? You see David, my story will have just as much bite to it as yours."

"GOD DAMMIT!" He roared. "Don't you EVER insinuate that I see my daughter as a lesser being! I love her with all of my heart and soul. The man you describe in your story was once me, but Janet and Katie changed me, I'm not the Lothario I once was!"

"And I'm sure the court would take that into consideration," she said condescendingly. "I'm _sure_ your past indiscretions wouldn't have _any_ bearing on the judge's decision."

"You bitch," he snarled. "You waltz in here after thirteen years and you _ruin _everything!"

"Call me what you want, but I am bound and determined to get to know my fourth daughter. Wouldn't it be better for everyone to do this informally" She asked. "I know the holidays are coming up and I don't want to throw a wrench into that, so I'll give you until after the New Year to tell Katie; after that, _I'll_ tell her. Capisce?"

"Get the fuck out of my office!" Dave spat, wanting nothing more than to pull his service weapon and use Strauss for target practice.

Strauss got up and opened the door. "I'm really not doing this to hurt anyone, David, I _really _think this will be beneficial for all of us in the long run." With that, she left his office.

Dave, who had a ton of grocery shopping to do, sat in a stunned silence for a few minutes and then he somehow managed to put Strauss's declaration and threats into a box in his head. He owed his daughter and team a decent, if not late, Thanksgiving and he couldn't do it if he dwelled on Strauss's words. As he left his office for the weekend, he wondered how he would deliver this piece of news to his daughter.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Family Ties-Chapter 20

* * *

"So dad put on the fancy hat and gloves and sat in the backyard with me for my tea party," Katie said to Garcia, JJ and Emily. "He was sandwiched between my giant Hello Kitty and the large teddy bear he won for me at a carnival when I was really little. Anyway, I was about to pour the first cup of tea, which was really just water, when Mudgie ran up, grabbed my Hello Kitty and ran off with it in his mouth."

The women were too busy laughing at the image of David Rossi wearing a formal hat and elbow length gloves to ask what happened next, but Katie continued with the story anyway, much to Dave's chagrin.

"So Mudgie took off and I burst into tears. Dad, seeing me crying and seeing his lovable puppy running with a stuffed animal that was bigger than he was, chases him except Mudgie loves the water and he dove into the creek without a second thought. Dad, on the other hand, realized where he was headed but he didn't figure it out until it was too late. He tried to skid to a halt, but he tumbled into the creek as well and then, after he fished his puppy out of the water, he fished my stuffed animal out as well. No matter how many times we washed that thing, it always smelled faintly of pond water."

"Oh my God!" Penelope exclaimed as she wiped the tears from her face, "Please tell me you have pictures of that!"

Katie thought for a minute and then nodded, "I think mom put them in the red photo album that's on the bookshelf in the great room," she told her as she set the potatoes on the stove to boil.

"Dammit Katie, why did you tell her where they were?" Dave said with a mock gruffness as Garcia took off for the other room. "Those pictures will be on the internet by seven o'clock on Monday morning!" He smiled at the end of his mini-tirade so she would know he was joking. He heard a loud burst of laughter from the great room and he knew that Penelope had shared the photos with Reid, Morgan, Will and Kevin.

"You didn't tell us about the makeup," Garcia said as she came back into the kitchen and set the opened photo album down on the counter. JJ and Emily gathered around it while Dave put his head in his hands.

"Remind me why I thought it would be a good idea for you to spend time with the team?" He asked his daughter rhetorically as the other women burst into new laughter.

"I've got to say Dave, blue glitter really goes well with your eye color," JJ said with a large grin on her face.

Dave was about to respond back with a rude gesture, but the doorbell cut him off. "Who could that be?" He wondered aloud as he made his way to the door. He opened it and was surprised to see his unit chief and Jack standing on the porch.

"Hotch!" He said, surprised. While he had invited his friend and his son, Dave hadn't expected them to actually come since it had only been a week since Hailey's death, but he was glad they were there.

Everyone else heard Dave's exclamation and came to greet Hotch and Jack. After that, the guys returned to the great room to resume watching their football game, while the women returned to the kitchen so they could keep chatting without disturbing anyone. Dave, who felt bad that his daughter and Garcia had done most of the food preparation, re-joined the women to see if there was anything he could help with.

"Is there anything I can do Belle?" He asked his daughter and she nodded.

"Yeah, can you keep an eye on the potatoes for me? I told Kayla I would give her a call about an assignment that's due this week and I want to do it now."

"Sure, you go ahead," he told her. Katie grabbed her cell phone from the counter and left the room. As soon as she was out of ear shot, Emily said, "You have a really great daughter, Dave."

"Thanks Emily," he said proudly. He _did _have a great daughter and he as much as he had initially resisted it, he was glad the rest of the team was getting to know her, embarrassing stories and pictures notwithstanding.

"The three of us want to take her out shopping on Sunday," JJ told him. "She needs some new clothes."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, "I just got her a bunch of new clothes before school started."

"Yeah, but that was four months ago," Emily said.

"So?"

"_So_," Emily continued as though she was talking to a five year old, "She's thirteen years old and her body has undergone some changes since then."

"What do you mean?"

"Are you sure _he's _not the one we should be having the 'my changing body' talk with?" Emily muttered to JJ.

"Puberty, Rossi," Garcia said, "Your little girl is going through puberty and she's growing up and out at a faster rate than you're used to. She got her first period a few months ago and-"

"OKAY," Dave interrupted loudly. He could talk for days on end about gruesome murder scenes and psychotic unsubs, but a few seconds of 'lady talk' made him uncomfortable as hell. "What do you want to get her?"

"Well, she's grown almost an inch, so she needs just about everything. Plus, she's busting out of her training bra," Garcia told him.

"Fine, take her shopping, but nothing inappropriate," he directed.

Garcia snapped her fingers in disappointment, "Damn, I guess our trip to _Frederick's of Hollywood_ is out the window."

"Garcia-" he began warningly.

"Just kidding, boss, we won't change her too much, I promise." Dave would have felt much better about the outing if there wasn't a small gleam of mischief in Garcia's eyes.

xxxxxxxxxx

Dinner went well; everyone was talkative and the mood at the table was upbeat and even Hotch and Jack seemed to have a good time. After dinner, Jack and Henry watched _Aladdin _in the den while the adults talked about anything other than work related topics. Finally, it was time for everyone to leave. JJ and Will collected a sleeping Henry and left, followed by Derek, Reid, Emily and Kevin, who had to work the night shift at Quantico and had taken his own car instead of riding with Penelope the night before. Garcia stayed to help clean up, as did Hotch who did not want to wake his sleeping son.

As she loaded the last dish into the dishwasher, Katie remarked, "That went really well. I was worried about the turkey, since I'd never made one before, but I think it turned out well."

"It was delicious Katie," Hotch told her. "You and Garcia really outdid yourselves."

"Awww, thanks bossman," Garcia said sheepishly.

Dave saw that Katie was rubbing her lower back and he frowned; the doctors said there would be residual effects from the bone marrow donation and one of those effects was stiffness at the collection sites for about a year afterwards. "Why don't you go up and soak in the Jacuzzi, Katie Belle?" He suggested.

Garcia's eyes narrowed, "I'm sorry, you have a Jacuzzi and you didn't tell me?"

Katie grinned, "Maybe when dad's out of town over a weekend, you and I can come out here and you can turn yourself into a mermaid in the hot tub."

"That sounds like a great plan," the tech said to the teen. Katie said her goodbyes to everyone and limped up the stairs. As soon as Dave heard the master bathroom door close, his expression turned serious. "I need some off the record legal advice, Aaron."

"Maybe I should head out and give you two some privacy," Garcia said but Dave shook his head.

"If' you're going to be taking care of Katie, then this concerns you too. Let's move into the great room." The other two followed his directive and soon they were all seated in front of the roaring fireplace; Hotch and Garcia on the sofa and Dave in an easy chair facing them.

"Strauss came to see me yesterday," Dave began.

"Oh hell, that can't be good," Garcia muttered and Hotch privately agreed with her.

"She wants to pursue a relationship with Katie."

"Did you tell her it's too late?" Garcia asked quietly but angrily, remembering that Jack was asleep in the next room. "Did you tell her she shouldn't have treated Katie like shit during the whole bone marrow transplant? Did you tell her that maybe she shouldn't want another _complication_ in her life?" Katie had told Garcia all about Strauss and the technical goddess was incensed for her.

"I did, Garcia, but she doesn't care. She claims to have turned over a new leaf, she said that Clara's illness, combined with Hailey's death, showed her that life is too short and she doesn't want any regrets when it comes to her fourth daughter," Dave told them.

"That's bullshit!" Penelope spat. "A tiger like her doesn't change her stripes that easily."

"Don't you think I know that, Garcia?" Dave asked a bit testily. "Don't you think I'm worried that she'll get to know Katie and then turn on her again?"

"Sorry Dave, it's just that Strauss's actions really hurt Katie," she said.

"I love that my daughter opened up more to you in three days than she has to me in three months," he muttered but he wasn't really angry, more like frustrated. It was good that she was confiding in _someone_, he just wished that someone was him.

"Don't take it personally, Agent Rossi; it's a girl thing."

"Anyway," Dave continued, "I pretty much told her to fuck off, that she wasn't going to get within a hundred feet of my daughter, and then she threatened to take me to court."

"What?" Garcia screeched. Oh, her boss was _so _dead, electronically speaking.

Dave nodded, "When she did that, I threatened to use her past against her, not to mention the fact that she signed her rights away, but then _she_ threatened to use my…ahem…romantic past against me."

"Jesus," Garcia breathed.

"My question, Aaron, is does she have a case?" Dave asked. "I mean, technically she's _not_ Katie's mother, her mother was Janet Rossi, but it's Strauss and she seems to be able to manipulate everyone into getting her own way."

There was silence for a minute as Hotch thought about the situation. "I don't know Dave," he finally said. "Normally I would say she doesn't have a chance because she _did_ sign her rights away and she had no contact with Katie for thirteen years. Add how she treated Katie during the bone marrow donation and it makes for a weak case."

"But?" Dave prompted. He'd read his friend's body language enough over the past twenty years to know there was a 'but' coming up.

"But you're a single dad and you _do_ have a sketchy past with women. Strauss will play up your divorces and your short-term relationships with many of the women in the FBI and she'll paint you as unfit to care for the needs and psychological well-being of a thirteen year old girl. It won't be enough to win her full custody, but it could be enough to get her some primo visitations."

"Fuck," he whispered.

Hotch continued, "It would depend on a lot of things; the judge, Strauss's daughters and their reaction towards Katie and Katie herself. Have you talked to her about this? Maybe she wants some sort of relationship with Erin."

"I won't subject her to Erin's rejection again!" Dave said loudly. "Fuck this, I'll just pack up and move to Canada with her."

Hotch rolled his eyes and shook his head. "First, I didn't hear that; I did _not_ hear my top profiler threaten to kidnap his own daughter and take her over international boundaries. Second, it's not the 1970's anymore, Dave. How long do you think it would take for Erin to find you? A week? Two? Maybe even less since you're semi-famous."

"Well what in the hell am I supposed to do, let Erin sink her claws into my daughter? No fucking way!"

"You have to talk to her, sir," Garcia said softly. "You have to talk to Katie about this."

"No," Dave said as he shook his head emphatically. "I'll take care of this, she doesn't need to know."

"Do you really think that's the best course of action?" Hotch asked. "Remember how angry she was when she found out the truth about Janet and Erin? She didn't talk to you for weeks. How do you think she'll feel when she learns you've been keeping more secrets from her? You have to talk to Katie about this, Dave."

"Talk to me about what?" The teen asked from the doorway.


	21. Chapter 21

Family Ties-Chapter 21

* * *

Katie was met with dead silence from all of the adults. "Talk to me about what?" She repeated, this time a bit louder.

"I thought you were going to soak in the Jacuzzi, Belle," Dave said, trying to change the subject.

"I was, but I wanted a glass of ice water before I got into the tub," she told him. "What do you need to talk to me about?"

"It's nothing honey, go take your bath," Dave told her and then pointed at the stairs. She quirked an eyebrow and just stared at him silently with a look on her face that said, 'you've gotta be kidding me.' Hotch gave a bark of laughter at her expression, having seen it on her father's face at least once a day, but then tried turning his laughter into a cough behind his hand once Dave's glare fell upon him.

"Come on Garcia, I think we should leave," he said, watching as the two Rossi's stared at each other like something out of an old western movie.

"I think you're right boss," she said, as the tension in the room built. Hearing his friends get up to leave pulled Dave from his staring contest with his daughter and he helped them gather up their things, including Hotch's sleeping son.

"He didn't even stir when I lifted him up," Dave said a moment later as he carried a sleeping Jack out of the den. He transferred the boy into Hotch's arms and Katie draped a bag full of leftovers onto his wrist.

"Thanks for hosting this shindig, guys," Garcia said as she picked up her purse and her bag of leftovers.

"Thank you for _your_ help, Penelope," Katie said as the woman hugged her.

"Go easy on your dad, he's just looking out for you," Garcia whispered and then straightened up. "Give me a call tomorrow and we'll set up a time to go shopping."

"Okay," Katie agreed as she watched her and Hotch walk out the front door. Once the door was shut, Katie turned and faced her father. "What do you need to talk to me about?" She asked for a third time.

Dave sighed and went back into the great room with Katie on his heels; he'd hoped she'd forgotten about that with all of the hubbub that had surrounded Garcia and Hotch's departure. He should've known better. As he took a seat on the sofa, Katie sat down in an easy chair in front of him and waited. Mudgie, who could feel the stress in the room, got up from his doggie bed near the fire and retreated into the recently vacated den.

"Honey, if I asked you to just let this go, to just trust me to take care of things, would you?"

"No," she replied immediately. "I _do _trust you, but I want to know what's going on."

"Fine," Dave said, shaking his head slightly. "Your…Erin Strauss has had a change of heart and she wants to get to know you."

"What?" Katie whispered. Of all the things she had expected him to say, THAT had never even crossed her mind. She'd made peace with the fact that her biological mother didn't care about her and this news was sending her emotions into a tailspin.

"She wants to get to know you and have some sort of relationship with you, Belle and I was trying to deal with it on my end," he told her. "I know you've had a rough time with Erin rejecting you earlier in the fall and then with Hailey dying, I didn't want to put this on you." His daughter was silent for a moment as she processed what he had said and Dave took her silence as a good sign, so he continued. "You don't need to worry about this Katie Belle, I'm going to handle it-" He was surprised when she interrupted him.

"YOU WERE GOING TO KEEP THIS FROM ME?" She shouted and Dave was amazed by the volume she got from her small lungs. "I don't BELIEVE you! What is WRONG with you? You can't keep this stuff from me! God Dad! You promised me, after all I went through this fall, after the way you kept everything a secret from me, you PROMISED you wouldn't do that anymore! She's my mother, for God's sake and you weren't going to TELL me?"

Dave ignored the shouting for the moment and focused on what he saw as important, "Do you _want _a relationship with Erin, Katie?"

"No, of course not, not after the way she's treated me, but that's not the POINT!" The irate teen shouted. "The _point_ is that once again you made a decision for me! Once again you decided what I need to know and what I don't need to know! I'm not a little kid anymore, you can't keep hiding things from me! From now on, I want to know about EVERYTHING that affects me, not that I can trust you to tell me!" The volume of her voice had decreased, but only a little and there was only so much yelling Dave could take before he yelled back and he had hit his threshold.

"Wait just one minute, young lady!" He said loudly. "You CAN trust me; I was withholding this information from you to protect you, I didn't want Erin tearing you apart again, it took you a long time to bounce back from it once and I'll be damned if I let her do it again! And you, little girl, ARE a kid and _I'm_ the father in this relationship and if I think you don't need to know something, even if it affects you, then I AM going to keep it from you and if you don't like it, well that's just tough!"

Katie was speechless, she couldn't believe he had just told her that he would be the gatekeeper of information and that he would choose what she needed to know. Where did he get off deciding what to protect her from? Where did he get off calling her a little girl? As she stood there in silence and pondered everything he'd said, her anger built up and she finally exploded.

"You're an ass!" She shouted and then ran out of the room. After a few seconds, the loud slamming of her door was heard throughout the cabin.

Dave just sat in shock as he processed his daughter's dramatic exit. Sure, he'd expected her to be angry, but he hadn't expected her to be THAT angry. Deep down, he knew she had a point, maybe he was being a bit too overprotective of her, maybe he should've told her about Erin right away but that did _not_ give her the right to talk to him the way she had.

Slowly the shock turned to anger and he began to see red. If she thought she was going to get away with yelling at him the way she had and then swearing at him, she had another thing coming. He bolted up off the sofa and took the stairs two at a time. He stomped down the second floor hallway and pounded on her bedroom door. "Let me in, Katie," he ordered. "We need to finish our discussion."

There was a loud thud against the door and then he heard her yell, "No! Go Away!"

Her response ratcheted his anger up another notch and he decided to enter the room without her permission. He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it and was surprised to find the door locked; she'd never done _that_ before. "Unlock this door right now, young lady, and let me in!"

"GO AWAY!" She screamed.

"Kate Lynn Rossi, you open this door RIGHT NOW! Trust me when I tell you, you will NOT like the consequences if you don't!"

There was another thud and then, "I'm NOT letting you in!"

Dave stood outside of her door for another couple of seconds before he bolted back down the stairs; he was seething with anger and it was probably a good thing there was a wood barrier separating the two of them at that moment. He entered the kitchen, opened the junk drawer and pawed through it for a minute. Upon finding the master key, he slammed the drawer shut and then made his way back up to the second floor, counting to a hundred as he did so.

Without warning, he jammed the key into the lock of his daughter's bedroom door, turned the doorknob and burst into her room. To say she was surprised would be putting it mildly, she was stunned that he had actually forced his way into her room. She stared at him with huge eyes and he thought the phrase 'deer in the headlights' had been tailor made for this moment.

"Dad! How did you-"

"Save it, Katie!" He bit out and then looked around her room and saw what she was doing. "Why are you packing?"

"I'm sure as heck not staying here with you!" She told him, as her surprise faded and her attitude reappeared.

"Yes you are!" He responded as he jerked her duffel bag away from her and dumped it's contents on the floor. "Didn't we already have a discussion about running away? I thought I made the consequences pretty clear to you; do you really want to test me on it tonight?"

Remembering that he'd threatened to put her over his knee the last time she'd tried running away, she decided that no, she really didn't want to see if he'd follow through on his threat. She remained silent, so Dave continued.

"I don't care if you disagree with me or if you don't like what I'm doing; heck, you can be mad and yell about it all you want, but you WILL show me some respect! Whether you like it or not, I am your father and you will NOT call me names and you most certainly will NOT swear at me! If you EVER call me an ass or any other name again, I will wash your mouth out with soap. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she spat, her eyes flashing with anger.

"Good," he said as calmly as he could. "And when I tell you to open a door, you'd better damned well do it! I don't EVER want to have to use the master key again!"

"Fine!"

"And since you chose to resort to swearing and name calling, you're grounded for a week. I want you home from school by four and in bed by eight. Got it?"

"But I'm supposed to go shopping with Penelope, JJ and Emily tomorrow," the teen protested loudly, not realizing how easy Dave had gone on her. If he'd ever sworn at _his _father, he'd probably still be locked in his bedroom.

"Tough," he shrugged. "You should have thought about that _before_ you decided to behave so poorly." He saw the anger begin to build back up in her, so he decided to end their confrontation. "Get ready for bed, I want these lights out in ten minutes." With that, he left her room and shut the door behind him. He knew that any reply she would've given him wouldn't have been a polite one and she was in enough trouble already.

With a loud sigh, he made his way down to the first floor, grabbed a beer from the fridge and then went and sat with the other occupant of the cabin. As he scratched Mudgie's head, he sighed and said, "You know what, Mudgie? Sometimes this whole 'being a dad' thing really sucks."


	22. Chapter 22

Family Ties-Chapter 22

* * *

The next couple of days were tense ones in the Rossi household. Other than at mealtimes, Katie and Dave avoided each other like the plague. Dave was still pissed about his daughter's attitude towards him, while Katie was angry at her dad for both grounding her and keeping important things from her and neither felt like talking to the other.

Katie realized, too late as it turned out, that she probably shouldn't have called her dad an ass, even if he had been acting like one. And, yeah, she probably should have opened her bedroom door when he'd ordered her to do it, but did that make it right for him to ground her for a week? Not only did she miss the shopping trip with the women of the BAU, which Garcia was able to reschedule for after she got off of her restrictions, she was also stuck going to bed at eight o'clock every night and it made her feel like a little kid. Eventually though, her anger wound down and she realized she needed to talk to him and maybe…_maybe_ apologize to him.

So at eight-fifteen on Tuesday night, she found herself making way down the stairs in the townhouse. She felt like an idiot since she was already dressed for bed, but she quietly entered the living room and saw that her dad was perusing some case files.

"Dad?" She asked hesitantly.

Dave was startled by the interruption and he glanced up at the clock before looking at her. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

Katie nodded, "Yeah, but I was hoping to talk to you for a minute."

He could tell she was nervous; she was biting her lower lip and she was picking at her cuticles and, on any other night, he would have invited her to sit down next to him, but he'd had a bad day and he was still a bit peeved with her so his response was not as nice as it could've been. "That depends," he said tightly. "Are you going to speak to me nicely, or is this going to be a repeat of Saturday night? Because if it's the latter, I won't hesitate to ground you even further."

A look of both hurt and frustration came over Katie's face. "You know what? Forget it!" She said loudly and then ran out of the room and up the stairs. A moment later he heard her door slam shut and he realized he'd just acted like the ass she'd accused him of being.

A large part of him knew she never would've acted as horribly as she had the other night under normal circumstances, but the news of her biological mother wanting to get to know her, combined with his withholding of information from her, had pushed her over the edge and he couldn't really blame her for lashing out at him. Plus, the other part of him knew that she was entering the moody teenage years and he had a hunch that the argument they'd had on Saturday night had been a preview of things to come and while she had to learn that it was unacceptable to swear at him, he supposed the arguments and confrontations would soon be par for the course.

With a sigh, he got up, went up to the second floor and knocked on Katie's door. "Belle, can I come in?" Hearing no response from her, he felt his blood pressure rise a couple of points. "Katie, open the door." He received no response from her and his frustration level increased even further; she was pulling this shit again? "Dammit Katie, this door had better be unlocked, because I'm coming in!" With that, he turned the doorknob, which surprisingly turned easily in his hand, and entered the darkened room. It took his eyes a minute to adjust to the darkness but when they did, he saw Katie lying on her bed with her eyes closed and her iPod running. His anger dissipated when he realized she hadn't purposely ignored him, she simply couldn't hear him. His heart broke a little when he saw the fresh tear tracks on her face.

He sat down next to her and her eyes flew open but she didn't turn off her iPod. Dave turned on her bedside lamp and gently removed the small speakers from her ears. "What do you need to talk to me about, honey?" He asked in what he hoped was a soothing voice.

"Nothing," she said belligerently as she turned on her side, away from him.

"Katie, it's obviously important," Dave said.

"Yeah, but I don't want to talk to you when you're mad at me," she said to the wall.

"I'm not mad, Belle," he said and heard her snort. "Okay, I'm still a little irritated from Saturday, but I also had a bad day today and I took it out on you and for that, I'm sorry." He put his hand on her shoulder and gently turned her so she was on her back and could see him. "But you have to understand that when I hold things back from you, it's for your own good. Maybe I'm too protective of you, but it's only because I love you."

Katie sat up against her headboard and huffed out a breath. "I know, and I'm sorry that I called you what I did, I didn't mean it…well, I don't mean it _now_," she told him and he had to bite back a smile at her insinuation that she had meant it _then_. "I was just really frustrated…and angry and I guess I still am kinda mad; I know why you sometimes keep things from me, but I really wish you wouldn't."

"I'll keep that in mind, Katie Belle," he told her. "Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

A fearful look came over her features and she shook her head, "Never mind, it's not a big deal."

"Katie," Dave said sternly, "It is obviously something important to you, so what is it?"

She looked down at her comforter as she picked at her cuticles. "You're going to get mad at me again," she whispered.

"Maybe so, but you know I'll eventually find out what it is so wouldn't it be better if I heard about it from you?" He sounded confident in his statement, but in reality he had no idea what she was keeping from him. It didn't matter, she fell for his bluff.

Taking a deep breath, Katie said, "I, um, changed my mind; I want to get know Erin."

"Really?" Dave asked in shock; he hadn't been expecting that from her, he'd assumed that with all the pain Erin had caused her, Katie wouldn't want to have anything to do with her.

She looked apprehensive as she nodded. "She's my biological mother and I'm kind of curious about her and I know she hurt me before, but this time she reached out to me, so that's got to mean something, right?" Still in a daze, Dave felt himself nod. "But…"Katie said and then trailed off.

"But what, Belle?"

"I…I feel like I'll be betraying mom's memory if I get to know Erin," she said and Dave saw tears well up in her eyes. "I mean, mom was wonderful and I loved her so much, but Erin was the one who carried me and I have sisters from her…I'm just so confused!"

Katie's anguish pulled Dave from his daze. "Hey," he said and he waited for her to look up at him. "You are NOT betraying your mom's memory by getting to know Erin," he said firmly. "Your mom loved you more than life itself and she would want you to be happy and if having a relationship with your birth mother will make you happy then your mom would be all for it."

"Really?" The teen whispered.

Dave nodded, "Really." There was silence for a moment until Katie spoke.

"How…how do I contact her? What should I say? What should I do? What if-" Hearing the panic begin to build in her voice, Dave interrupted.

"How about I set something up? I can see if she wants to have lunch with you sometime soon."

"You'd do that for me, even though you hate her?"

"I don't hate her, Katie," Dave lied, "I hate what she did to you, I hate how she made you feel, but I'll get over it."

"Okay," Katie said, but inside she was doubtful that her father and birth mother would ever get along. "Maybe we could have lunch on Friday?"

Dave frowned, "Don't you have school?"

"Yeah, but all I have after lunch is art, gym and a study hall; maybe I could miss them, just this once?" She asked, looking at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Okay, I'll try and set something up for you," he told her and got a hug in return.

"Thanks dad," she said, "For everything."

After a minute he released her and said, "Come on, NCIS is about to start and I don't want to watch it alone."

"But I'm grounded," she reminded him.

"You are, but I know your warden and I'm sure he can spring you for an hour or so," he said with a wink.

Katie, who hated going to bed so early, jumped up and raced out of her bedroom before he had a chance to change his mind.


	23. Chapter 23

Family Ties-Chapter 23

**~Thanks to all of the reviewers of the last couple of chapters. I haven't had time to respond personally, but I really appreciate them!**

**~This might be the last update for the next 4 or 5 days...I'll be travelling and I'll be without internet.**

* * *

Three days later, Dave looked up from his computer as the phone on his desk rang.

"Rossi," he answered, as he went back to typing.

"Agent Rossi? This is Steve at the front desk; your daughter has arrived."

"Shit, is it noon already?" Dave asked rhetorically; he'd gotten so involved in his work that he'd lost track of time. He'd planned on being in the lobby when Katie arrived as a way to cut down on some of the anxiety he knew she was feeling.

"Yes sir, it is," the security guard answered. "Do you want to come get her, or should I bring her up there?"

Dave looked at his computer and knew he needed to finish his thought before saving the document, so he said, "Why don't you go ahead and bring her here?"

"No problem, sir," the guard replied.

While he waited for his daughter to arrive, Dave finished his paragraph, put the computer into hibernation mode and paced. He was surprised to find himself feeling nervous and he wondered if it was due to the fact that this would be Katie's first visit to the BAU, or if it was worry about his daughter's upcoming lunch with her biological mother.

It wasn't that he was against Katie getting to know Erin…okay, he wasn't a fan of it but he understood the need for it, he was simply worried that it wouldn't go well for her and he honestly didn't know if she could deal with much more rejection and hurtful words from the woman. He knew that if Erin was a bitch to Katie in ANY way today, he would end things once and for all and if that meant finding a place to dump his section chief's body, then so be it.

If he was truly honest with himself, Dave also felt threatened by the possibility of a relationship forming between Katie and Erin. Let's face it, Erin could offer her a ready-made family of sisters, a stable household much more femininity in her life while Dave could offer her a father who was gone half of the time and turned red anytime 'girl talk' came up, a grandfather and uncle who lived half-way across the world and a hunting dog who made more of a mess than the teenager did. What if Katie eventually decided she wanted to live with _Erin _full-time and visit _him_? Sure, Erin wasn't legally Katie's mother, but Dave had no doubt she could fix that anytime she wanted to and if Katie was on board with it, most judges wouldn't have a problem awarding her full custody. God, he could lose her to the woman who never wanted her in the first place!

Just as he was working himself into a full-blown panic, there was a knock on his open door and he looked up to find Katie and Steve standing in the doorway. Just seeing his daughter's sunny smile was enough to lower his heart rate and he felt himself calm down.

"Thanks Steve," he said, "I've got her from here."

The security guard nodded, "You have a good day, Agent Rossi; you too, Miss Rossi." Katie giggled at being addressed so formally and Steve left with a smile. Once he was gone, the teen took a moment to look around her dad's office.

"What do you think?" Dave finally asked, surprised to find himself a bit nervous about her answer.

She turned to him and smiled, "It's exactly what I expected, it's totally _you_. From the polished wood to the color on the walls, it's what I thought your office would look like and it's really nice."

"Thanks honey," he said and then glanced at his watch. "Well, we should probably head over to Erin's office."

"Okay…" Katie said as her expression turned from one of happiness to one of anxiety. "Um, dad? Maybe this is a mistake…maybe I shouldn't do this."

Dave sighed; he didn't want to push her into anything but he also knew that if she didn't at least meet with Erin, she would regret it for the rest of her life. "Honey, I know you're nervous but I think it's too late to back out of it. If you don't do this, she'll try to get a formal custody arrangement through the courts. Wouldn't it be better to keep this on your terms?"

"I guess so…" she trailed off, looking at the floor.

"Just keep in mind that she's as nervous as you are," he said. "And who knows, you might find that you like spending time with her."

"Okay," she said as she took a deep breath and then looked up at him. "Let's do this."

Dave smiled, "I'll give you the tour on the way," he said as they left his office. They took a few steps before they stopped in front of Hotch's office.

"This is Aaron's office," he said as he knocked on the door. Hearing an invitation into the office, Dave opened the door and the two of them stepped in. "Since he's the boss, he gets the really big office."

"I don't know about 'really big,' but it's comfortable," Hotch said as he looked at his visitors. "Hi Katie."

"Hi Aaron," she said returning his greeting. The three of them chatted for a minute before leaving and making their way to the bullpen, where they found Emily, Derek and Spencer.

"Hey Katie, I'm still eating the leftover turkey you sent home with me and it's still really good," Morgan told her.

"Thanks," she said with a shy smile.

"Are we still on for shopping on Sunday?" Emily asked her and Katie nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, we'd better get going, Erin's expecting us," Dave said. Emily wanted to tell the teenager to watch her back, but decided not to add to her nervousness.

Dave and Katie stopped at JJ's office along the way and then, before they knew it, they were in Erin's outer office. As they stepped through the door, Katie slipped her hand into her dad's and he squeezed it in a silent reassurance.

"Agent Rossi," Strauss's assistant, Jane, greeted them stiffly; she knew there was no love lost between her boss and the man standing in front of her and she was loyal to her boss.

"Hello Jane, would you please let Erin know that Katie and I are here?" Dave asked nicely. On any normal day, he would have breezed by the assistant and burst into Erin's office without an invitation, but he knew it angered her when he did that and he wanted her in a good mood for the luncheon with their daughter, so he restrained himself.

Jane, who was surprised the legendary agent was actually waiting for entrance into her boss's office said, "You can go right in, she's been expecting you."

Dave gave her a curt nod and then led his daughter to the inner office. He opened the door and found Erin standing in the center of the room, wringing her hands nervously and he really wanted to fuck with her, not only as payback for the years of difficulty he'd had with her, but also for her treatment of their daughter. For Katie's sake he didn't act on those impulses.

"Hello David, hi Katie," she greeted smoothly, but inside her emotions were in a turmoil. What if her daughter didn't like her? Had she screwed everything up too much with her initial treatment of her? Was she jeopardizing the happiness of her other daughters by getting to know this one? Going by their reaction the previous night, they were _not_ on board with this, but it was something she had to do. This girl standing in front of her was her flesh and blood! There was a connection to her, a connection she'd long since tried to ignore, but she knew she couldn't deny it anymore.

"Hello Erin," Dave greeted coolly, as he sent her mental threats. She didn't need ESP to know that if she in _any_ way hurt their daughter's feelings, she would be a dead woman.

"Hello…ma'am," Katie said softly as she clung to her father's hand. What was she supposed to call the woman in front of her? Ma'am seemed too formal but she sure as _heck_ wasn't going to call her mom! Janet Rossi had been her real mother, not this lady. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure what to call you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"How about you call me Erin and we'll go from there?"

"Okay," the teen agreed and there was an uncomfortable silence until Dave disentangled his hand from his daughter's.

"Well, I think I'll leave you two to your lunch. I'll be in my office when you get back, Belle," he said as he kissed the top of her head. With that, he left the room and he felt like he had left a part of himself behind; a part that he would never get back.


	24. Chapter 24

Family Ties-Chapter 24

**~Apparently I was wrong before...THIS will probably be my last update for a few days. **

**~Thanks again to all of the reviewers! **

* * *

Once Dave left the room, Katie and Erin just stared at each other, as if sizing the other up. Katie was still dressed in her school uniform and she looked a typical thirteen year old girl, while Erin was dressed in her usual impeccable way. While some agents dressed a bit informally on Fridays, Erin was dressed in a pants suit and blouse and her jewelry was tasteful and elegant, as was her makeup. Katie knew that once her dad started letting her use cosmetics, she wanted to use them in the same way as her biological mother did.

After a few moments the silence became oppressive and they knew one of them had to break it. Erin, being the adult, took a deep breath and asked, "Where would you like to go for lunch?"

Katie shook her head, "I don't know what's around here," she said quietly.

"How about Indian food? There's a great little restaurant not far…" She trailed off as a look of distaste crossed over the teen's features. "Okay, no Indian food. How about Chinese?"

"Dad and I had that last night," Katie told her. She wasn't trying to be a pain, but she couldn't help it that she was a picky eater.

Erin thought for another minute, "There's a diner close by, how about that?"

Katie thought for a minute and then nodded, "Okay, that sounds good."

"Good," Erin said as she grabbed her gun and credentials from her desk drawer and put them in her purse. "Let's go."

Strauss ushered Katie out of her office and they walked to the elevator in silence. Dave watched from his office and prayed that everything would go okay.

xxxxxxxxxx

Twenty minutes later the two women had given their orders to the waitress, a burger for Katie and a chef salad for Erin, and were sitting in an uncomfortable silence. Erin stared at her daughter, amazed at the parts of her she saw in the girl, while Katie gazed out the window and pretended she didn't feel her mother's eyes on her. Finally Erin spoke.

"Okay, we obviously have many questions for each other, so why don't we take turns asking them. You can go first."

Katie thought for a minute and then took a deep breath, "Why didn't you want me?" She blurted out, as if she was surprised by her own question.

Erin, who had been expecting something more along the lines of 'what's your favorite color' as a way to ease in to the conversation, tried to cover her surprise. "It's complicated, Katie. I…when I was involved with your father, I was unhappily married. We'd tried counseling, we'd tried taking a long vacation and nothing worked so we separated and I truly thought we would get divorced, but we didn't. I found out I was pregnant with you five days after my husband and I decided to reconcile and I knew that if I kept you, it would ruin my marriage and my husband would take my other daughter away from me." She'd almost slipped and used the word 'had' instead of 'kept' but thankfully she'd caught herself in time; like Dave, her thoughts of aborting Katie would go with her to the grave. "It was selfish, I know, but I also knew that your dad really, really wanted you and I knew he would love you with all of his heart and once Janet entered his life, I knew the best choice was to let you go so you could have a good life."

A few tears had spilled out of Katie's eyes upon hearing her mother's answer and she wiped them away with her napkin. Erin let her collect herself and then said, "My turn."

"Go ahead," Katie said with a small smile; after her question, God only knew what the woman would ask her.

"Why did you decide to do this?" She asked and saw confusion on the teen's face. "Why did you agree to meet with me today?" She clarified.

"I…I'm not sure," she said truthfully. "When dad told me what you wanted, I didn't want to do it, but then I thought about it and changed my mind. I guess…I guess a lot of it was curiosity. I mean, there are four other people who are like me and I guess…I don't know…I guess I kinda feel a connection. I felt it when we met at the hospital that night after I donated the bone marrow and even after you were so horrible to me, I still felt a pull to you."

"I'm so sorry about that night, Katie...I'm so sorry about everything," Erin said as she started to reach for the teen's hand but thought better of it; if she had even a tenth of her father's temper, she knew she would pull back a stump.

"Yeah, well…" Katie trailed off and then asked her next question, "Did you _ever _want me?"

Erin nodded, "I did; I may not have been overjoyed at being pregnant at first, but by the time I had you, I was enamored with you and giving you up was the hardest thing I've ever done."

"Okay," Katie said softly. She had learned a few things from her dad and she knew her mother was being honest with her.

"What made you decide to donate your bone marrow to Clara?" Strauss asked, since it was her turn to ask a question and she'd always wondered about the answer to this one.

"She's my sister, whether I ever meet her or not, and no matter how mad and confused I was when dad told me everything I couldn't let a little girl die because my parents lied to me. Plus, once dad told me about you and about being adopted by my mom, it changed things between us forever…not much, but a tiny part of me will always wonder if he's telling me the truth about things and I figured _something_ good had to come from that."

Erin was about to say something but the waitress appeared with Katie's side salad, so she watched as the girl picked out the tomatoes and then drizzled the dressing over it. Katie took a few bites before asking the next question. "Did you ever think about me? Did you ever wonder how I was doing?"

"All the time," she replied without hesitation. "I might have given you away but I _never_ stopped thinking about you. When your father came out of retirement a few years ago, I had to stop myself from demanding updates from him almost everyday. I knew you were in a good home with loving parents and I didn't want to ruin that and I was correct, wasn't I? Your mom, before she died, loved you more than life itself, as does your dad, right?"

Katie smiled as she finished her small salad, "Is that your next question?"

Erin returned the smile, "It is."

"You're right, mom and I were always really close and I didn't think I would ever get over her death…I still get sad sometimes," she admitted.

"That's perfectly natural, Katie," Erin told her.

"And dad? Dad and I get along pretty well. His protectiveness can drive me insane sometimes, as can his nosiness and sometimes I lose my temper with him. I'm actually grounded right now, but dad let me off for this lunch for my 'good behavior'," she told her.

"Why are you grounded?"

"Dad made me mad and he wouldn't hear me out so I called him," her voice dropped to a whisper, "an ass." Erin had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling; she could just picture the look on the legendary profiler's face as a thirteen year old girl put him in his place.

"Anyway," the teen continued, "He HATES it when I swear and he wasn't thrilled that I resorted to name calling so he grounded me for a week, even though I was supposed to go shopping with Penelope, Emily and JJ last Sunday and when he puts me on restriction it means no phone, no TV, no internet and I have to be in bed by eight o'clock."

"Sounds rough," Strauss commiserated.

"It is," Katie confirmed with an affronted huff.

The waitress brought their food and the conversation turned to lighter topics for the rest of the meal and the ride back to the BAU. Once inside, Erin walked Katie to the bullpen and stopped outside of the doors. "Would you like to do this again sometime?" She asked hesitantly and Katie barely had to think before she nodded. "Good," Erin continued with a smile, "Because it was fun getting to know you."

"It was fun for me too, Erin," Katie responded with a small smile of her own, her shyness mostly gone.

Erin handed her a card, "This has all of my numbers and my email address on it. Please contact me if you _ever _need anything." Katie agreed and then Strauss left her to go to her office.

Katie made the short walk to her dad's office in a daze; the lunch had gone better than she thought it would and she found herself actually _liking _her biological mother.

"How was lunch?" A deep voice from behind her asked. Katie gasped and spun around to face her father.

"God dad, you scared the heck out of me!" She exclaimed as they walked into his office.

"Sorry Belle, I didn't mean to."

"It's okay," she told him as she looked at some of the pictures on his bookshelf. "Lunch was…interesting. I learned a lot about Erin and she learned a lot about me. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I might actually do it again sometime."

"That's great, Katie," Dave said, trying to muster up some enthusiasm, but inside he screaming NO! He still didn't trust Strauss any further than he could throw her and he was terrified that she would try taking Katie away from him, but he knew his daughter needed this and he wasn't going to stand in her way.

Again, Katie, having learned some things from the profiler in front of her, could tell that he wasn't as happy as he seemed. "You're mad, aren't you?" She asked hesitantly; she really wished there was a way she could make both Erin and her dad happy but she couldn't think of one.

Dave shook his head, "I'm not mad, I promise, I'm just confused and a bit worried but I am NOT mad."

"Okay," Katie said but Dave could tell she didn't believe him.

"Katie Belle, my hang-ups with Erin are my own and I'll find a way to work through them. The most important thing is that you're happy and if seeing your biological mother makes you happy, then I'm happy for you." And that was the thing, she _was_ happy! It had been a long time since Dave had seen his daughter look so contented and carefree and he would do whatever he had to in order to keep her that way.

"Thanks dad," she said as she threw her arms around him.

"I love you Katie," he said as he kissed the top of her head.

"I love you too dad," she replied, her voice muffled by his chest.

As he held her, he wished he could trust Erin…he wished his daughter's happiness wasn't held in the palm of her hand.


	25. Chapter 25

Family Ties-Chapter 25

**~Sorry for the delay, I'm at my dad's house and it's been difficult to find time to write. **

* * *

Over the next two months, Katie and Erin were able to meet four more times for lunch; they both wanted to meet more than that, but it just wasn't possible with the holidays and they were lucky to meet as often as they had. Since most of the difficult questions had been answered during their first meeting, the next few were much lighter and much more interesting. It was at these luncheons they learned about each other's favorite color (purple for Katie, red for Erin), their favorite types of music (easy listening for Erin, top 40 for Katie) and they shared light-hearted stories about their lives. They continued to ask each other heavy questions, but those were few and far between.

Christmas was fun for both families; Dave's father and brother flew in from Italy and the four Rossi's spent a fun-filled week at the cabin while Erin and her daughters spent the holiday relaxing at their house with a much healthier Clara. All in all the holidays served to recharge everyone's batteries.

Once January hit, it seemed as though everyone was busier than they had been over the holidays. Katie was back in school, Dave was back at work and immersed in the seemingly never-ending cases and Erin was trying to pound out the new budget for the BAU and the other departments she oversaw. The Strauss girls were also back in school, including Clara who had been homeschooled by a tutor for much of the previous year due to her anemia and transplant. She was happy to be healthy and able to rejoin her friends and she knew she owed much of that to the sister she'd never met. As a result, she'd asked her mother if she could meet her and, after gaining Katie's approval, a dinner was set up between the Strauss women and the teen.

The day of the dinner, Katie found herself walking into the BAU after school; she was going to ride to the restaurant with Erin while the Strauss family housekeeper would drop the Strauss girls off at the restaurant. Because of Allison and Clara's ages, they would be eating at Chuck E. Cheese and Katie hoped she would have fun.

Since she'd been there before, and since Dave had left word at the security desk, Katie did not have an escort as she made her way to the BAU. As soon as she stepped through the double glass doors, she was stopped by Emily and Derek.

"Katie!" Emily said enthusiastically. "How are you?"

"I'm good Emily," the teen responded back enthusiastically; the three women of the BAU had taken a special interest in Katie Rossi, knowing she needed a female influence in her life and, as a result, she'd gotten to know JJ, Emily and Garcia really well over the past few months. While she'd stayed with Garcia numerous times while her dad was out of town, she'd also gone out shopping with the three women and they'd had a couple of girl's nights out with the teen. Dave was grateful for their influence on her, while Katie was happy to have older women to confide in again. She still really missed Hailey, but having the other women around made that loss a bit more bearable. "Is my dad around?" She asked, looking up at his darkened office.

"I think he was pulled into a conference call," Derek said as Garcia came scurrying into the bullpen.

"Katie!" She exclaimed and drew the girl into a crushing hug. The technical Goddess acted as though she hadn't seen the teen in over a year while, in actuality, she had seen her less than three days previous.

"Can't breathe," Katie choked out and Garcia finally released her. Once out of the quirky woman's clutches, Katie took an experimental breath to make sure none of her ribs had been broken in the exuberant greeting.

"What are you doing here, Peaches?" Garcia asked as JJ walked into the bullpen and joined the group surrounding the teenager.

"I'm having dinner with Erin tonight," she replied. "It's easier for me to ride to the restaurant with her, but I'm early so I thought I would stop by and see dad but he's not here."

"He's in the conference room with Hotch talking to the Topeka PD," JJ explained.

"I guess I'll talk to him later," Katie said and then looked around. "Is there somewhere I can change?" She asked, holding up a small duffel bag. She was still in her school uniform, but she didn't want to go to dinner dressed like that, so she had brought a change of clothes with her.

"Let's go to the locker room," Emily suggested and the three women led Katie out of the bullpen and down the hall.

Five minutes later, as Katie was ensconced in a changing stall, the four of them exchanged gossip. Actually, the three BAU women gossiped about their friends and co-workers while Katie listened. As she slipped into her sweater, she heard her name come up.

"So how is it going with you and Erin, Katie?" Emily asked. Like Dave, she was wary about Erin's intentions and level of commitment towards Katie and she knew if her boss ever hurt the girl, either physically or psychologically, she would be in line right behind Dave to tear her limb from limb. She now considered Katie a friend, part of the BAU family, and they protected their own.

"Um, pretty well," the teen told her as she stepped out of the booth. "We've had lunch a couple of times and we email each other sometimes…it's weird, but it's nice at the same time. Does that make sense?"

"Completely," JJ said. "Your dad said you're meeting her daughters tonight?"

Katie nodded as she stood in front of the mirror and pulled out her lip gloss. It had been a hard fought battle to convince her dad to let her wear the light pink cosmetic and she'd pulled the three women into her battle before he'd finally given in, but it had been worth it to be able to start wearing makeup. As she stood in front of the mirror, she felt very grown-up as she applied the gloss to her lips. "We're only going to Chuck E. Cheese, so I'm probably too dressed up, but I always go to lunch in my school uniform and I wasn't sure how to dress, so-"

"You look great, Katie," Emily said as she interrupted the girl's nervous rambling. She was wearing a pair of khaki slacks and a light purple, v-neck sweater with a white lace camisole underneath. "Strauss will definitely approve of the outfit."

"I hope so," she said as she looked at her watch. "I should probably get up to Erin's office; tell dad I said hi." The ladies walked her out of the locker room and watched her enter her mother's outer office, none of them willing to enter the lair with her.

xxxxxxxxxx

Thirty minutes later, Katie and Erin entered the child-friendly restaurant and found two blonde haired girls waiting in the lobby with an older lady. The younger one, Alison, broke away from the woman and ran toward her mother.

"Mommy!" She yelled as she ran into her mother's arms. "Mrs. Hutchinson wouldn't let us play any games until you got here!" She shot an accusing look at the housekeeper as she snuggled in to her mother's embrace.

"Well I'm here now, so let's go sit down at a table," Erin said as she set the girl down and looked around. "Where's Ellen?" She asked the housekeeper.

"She claims to have a stomach ache," the older woman responded dryly and her tone indicated her disbelief.

"Great," Erin said with a sigh; she knew Ellen was having a hard time with this but they had talked the previous night and she'd made it clear that tonight's dinner was _not_ optional. Apparently a longer, louder discussion was in store for later that evening.

The housekeeper nodded, "If you have everything set here, I'll be going."

"That's fine, thanks for bringing them here," Erin said and the woman nodded before she left.

"Okay," Erin said, turning to her two younger daughters, "Let's go sit down and order our food before you run wild." The two girls nodded and Erin noticed Katie standing at the periphery of the group. "Come on honey," she said as she held out a hand to her.

Surprised by the gesture since Erin had never shown her any physical affection or used any terms of endearment towards her, Katie took the offered hand and let herself be led to a booth, not too far from the noisy games. She sat down next to Erin, while her two sisters sat across from them.

"Alison, Clara, this is your sister Katie," Erin introduced. Katie gave a shy wave and the three girls stared at each other for a long moment. Finally, Alison broke the tension.

"You have really pretty hair!" She exclaimed with a smile as she bounced in her seat slightly.

Katie gave her sister a genuine smile as she patted her dark brown hair. "Thanks, so do you," she told her, "And I love your Strawberry Shortcake sticker."

The six year-old puffed out her chest proudly so everyone could see the sticker affixed to her shirt, just above her heart. "It smells yummy too! I got it because I was the most quiet in line after recess. Wanna smell it?" Katie nodded and the little girl leaned across the table. As Katie inhaled through her nose, she smelled strawberries and baby shampoo.

"That's awesome," Katie said enthusiastically as Alison sat back down. "I wish I had a sticker like that."

"Maybe if you're the bestest at lining up, you'll get one!" Alison told her and Katie smiled at the way all of her sentences seemed to end in exclamation points. She was a cute kid and she seemed very happy and Katie couldn't help but instantly like her.

Erin smiled as she watched her daughters converse and then she turned the topic toward the type of pizza they wanted. Thankfully, Katie seemed to like the same toppings as they did, so the order was easy and soon it had been placed. Once the waiter left, a balloon animal making duo had taken the small stage near them and many of the younger kids had gathered around.

"Ooooohhhh, balloon animals! Can I go up there mommy? Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaassssseeeee?" Alison begged.

Erin nodded and got up to take her daughter to the stage but the girl pulled her hand from hers. "I can go alone, I'm not a baby!" She protested with a slight pout.

Erin knew that her daughter had been trying to assert her independence lately and since she could clearly see the small stage from their table, she let the six year-old go by herself. Once she was gone, Clara finally spoke up.

"Thank you for donating your marrow to me," she said quietly.

"You don't have to thank me," Katie said, just as softly, "I was glad to help. Are you feeling better?"

Clara smiled and nodded, "I can finally go to school again and I can play with my friends because I don't get so tired anymore. Mom has finally stopped worrying about me, too."

She was wrong on that last point; Erin would worry about her health for the rest of her life, but she didn't shatter the illusion her daughter had.

"Did the transplant hurt?" Katie asked.

"Not really; the medicine they gave me to kill my immune system made me really sick but it didn't hurt. The only part that hurt was when they started my IV."

"She got the marrow like an IV," Erin told the teenager, who nodded.

"Did it hurt to donate?" Clara asked.

"A little," Katie lied, not wanting the girl to feel bad. "They had to take it out with needles, but they made me numb first, so it wasn't too bad."

"Did you have to stay in the hospital?" For Clara, the many hospital stays had been the worst part about being sick.

Katie nodded, "For one night, then I went home and stayed there with my dad for a week and it sucked because he wouldn't let me do _anything_!"

"I know, mom wouldn't let me do anything when I was sick; I even had school at home!"

"That's awful!" Katie said sympathetically and then their conversation turned to talk of school and commiserations of homework and mean teachers. As Erin watched them, she knew that if her oldest daughter was here, her life would have been damn near perfect at that point.

Twenty minutes later, the pizza arrived and they all dug into it as if they hadn't eaten in three days. After that, the three girls grabbed the tokens and began playing some of the many games that filled the restaurant. Erin watched as Katie patiently helped Alison play skeeball and then competed with Clara in a dancing arcade game. The girls looked like they were having a lot of fun and it brought a sad smile to her lips; up until this moment she had never doubted her decision to give Katie over to Dave, but as she watched the girls play together, she realized she had missed out on thirteen years of this kind of happiness, of completeness, and she knew she would never get it back. Just as she was about to really lose herself in melancholy, Katie came back to the table to get a drink.

"How are you doing, Katie?" Erin inquired and her heart jumped when the teen smiled and said, "I'm having a lot of fun; Clara and Alison are great!"

"I'm glad to hear it," Erin told her. "I was thinking, how would you like to spend the weekend at our house sometime?"

Katie scrunched her face up in thought and then finally smiled and nodded, "That sounds fun, as long as dad says it's okay."

"I'll talk to your father about it tomorrow, okay?" Erin asked with a large smile on her face at the thought of getting to spend more than a few hours with her daughter.

"Okay," Katie agreed and then ran off to re-join her sisters.


	26. Chapter 26

Family Ties-Chapter 26

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this, Belle?" Dave asked as he sat down on the teen's bed next to her packed duffel bag. It was nearly two weeks after Katie had had dinner with Erin, Clara and Alison and she was getting ready to spend the weekend at their house. When he'd found out about the invite Erin had issued to her, he hadn't been happy; actually, unhappy was an understatement, blind with fear and anger towards his one-time lover would have been much more accurate.

After Katie had come home and told him about the dinner and the invitation, he'd sent her to bed with a smile and a pat on the head, not wanting her to know how livid he was. As soon as he'd heard her bedroom door close he had called Hotch, who'd talked him down from the ledge. His unit chief and best friend had assured him that it didn't sound like Erin was making a play for custody of Katie; instead it sounded as though she'd gotten caught up in the moment and had spoken out of turn. Hotch had urged him not to do anything stupid and Dave had almost followed his advice. Almost.

The morning after the dinner, Dave arrived at Quantico much earlier than he normally did and he'd waited for Erin in her office. After scaring the hell out of her from his perch on the sofa, he'd laid into her for ten minutes straight about talking to HIM before issuing invitations to Katie. He'd also threatened her numerous times and, by the time he'd finished his ranting, Erin knew that anything that threatened Katie's safety and happiness would be dealt with in the harshest manner, but he'd finally given his permission for the visit, partly because he knew Katie wanted to do it and partly because he didn't want Erin to go through the courts to get weekend visitations.

"I'm sure dad," she said as she swept her few cosmetics off of her dresser and into a small bag which she placed in her duffel bag. Suddenly a thought hit her and she paused in her packing. "You're…you're not mad about this, are you?" She asked timidly. Her dad had been great through all of this and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him, but there were times she felt like the monkey in the middle; she wanted to remain close to her dad and her mom's memory but she also wanted to get to know Erin and her sisters better and it seemed as though she couldn't make everyone completely happy.

"Of course I'm not mad, Katie Belle," he said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone of voice. While he wasn't angry about the whole situation, he sure as hell wasn't overjoyed about it. When Erin had come into his office so many months ago, it had been about saving her daughter's life and that was it. Now Katie was emailing her and eating lunch with her and spending the weekend at her house. What if she eventually decided she liked living there better than with him? What if _he _eventually became the parent she had the occasional lunch with? He and his daughter had been close for most of their lives and they'd grown closer after Janet's death and he didn't want anything to jeopardize that.

"Are you sure?" She asked hesitantly as she stood in front of him. "I still kinda feel like I'm betraying mom's memory."

Dave reached out, pulled her onto his lap and encircled his arms around her. "How many times do I have to tell you that your mom would be happy for you? She would want you to know your sisters and Erin! She would be so happy that _you're _happy, so don't you dare feel bad about getting to know your family, okay?" He pressed a kiss to her temple, hoping he'd relieved some of her worries.

"Okay," she said, happier than she had been. She was about to say something else, but the doorbell rang and she jumped off of her father's lap. "She's here!"

"Do you have everything?" Dave asked as she grabbed both her duffel bag and her back pack. Katie nodded and made her way down the stairs with him following closely behind her.

They got to the front door and opened it to reveal a happy Erin Strauss standing on the other side of it. "Hi Katie, are you ready to go?" She asked.

Katie smiled and nodded, "I think I'm set," she said.

"Do you have your cell phone?" Dave asked and his daughter nodded. "Good, you call me if you need _anything_," he told her as he shot a look at Erin, who rolled her eyes. "I'll be here all weekend working on my next book, so you call me whenever you want to."

""Kay dad," she said as she gave him a hug goodbye. She had to practically tear herself out of his arms, but she finally broke free of the embrace and stepped through the front door. He watched as she and Erin walked to her car, got in and sped off into the night and he felt like part of his heart had left him forever.

xxxxxxxxxx

While Erin was picking Katie up from her father's house, Ellen Strauss used the time to talk to her sisters.

"But I don't wanna be mean to her," Allison protested in a whine. "She's really nice!"

"I don't care, she's _not _our sister, no matter how many times mom says she is, and she never will be!" Ellen told her.

"But mommy said she is," Allison said with a confused look on her face.

"Mommy is wrong," Ellen said determinedly. "She has a different dad and she didn't know mom until a couple of months ago. Does that sound like a sister to you, Allie?"

"I dunno," Allison responded.

"Well she isn't, so we can't make her feel too comfortable here or else she might want to stay."

"But why do we have to be mean to her?" Clara asked quietly. "She saved my life, Ellen."

"She only did the bone marrow thing because she knew mom was going to go to court to force her to do it," her older sister responded.

"So? She did it and that's what matters," Clara said more forcefully this time.

"That's great Clara," Ellen said in a hurt tone. "Why don't you just choose her over me? I'm the one who helped take care of you for years while you were sick and I'm the one who helped you fight mom when you wanted to do things that she deemed to be 'too risky' for your health, but by all means, take the side of a girl you've known for all of five minutes."

"I'm not taking sides, I just don't want to be mean to her," she reiterated.

"You don't have to be _mean _to her, just don't be welcoming, don't fall at her feet. We have to show her that the three of us were sisters long before she came into the picture and we don't have room for a fourth."

Clara puffed out a breath; she didn't know what her older sister's problem was with Katie, but she felt the guilt from her. Ellen was right, she _had _taken care of her and fought for her and she owed her, so she would be standoffish to Katie. "Fine," she sighed knowing that what they were about to do was wrong.

"Allie, are you in?" Ellen asked.

The six year-old looked at both of her sisters and nodded; she wasn't sure what was going on but she didn't want to be left out.

Ellen was about to say something else but at that moment the front door opened and the three of them heard their mother and Katie enter the house.

"Girls? We're home!" Erin called out as she hung both her jacket and Katie's in the front hall closet. Hearing no response, she called again. "Girls! Come help us set up for dinner!" Their housekeeper had left beef stew simmering in the crock pot and the smell was mouth watering.

"Where should I put my stuff?" Katie asked a bit shyly; she had been fine on the car ride to the house but now that she was in an unfamiliar setting, she was nervous.

"Let's go upstairs and I'll show you to your room," Erin said and Katie followed her to the second floor. "Here's your room," Erin said as she opened the door to a room done in a warm yellow color. "Ellen is on the room to your left and Clara and Allie are on your right. I'm across the hall and the bathroom is at the end of the hallway; I'm afraid the four of you girls will have to share it."

"That's okay," Katie said as she set her backpack and duffel bag down on the floor next to her bed. "It's a very pretty room."

"Thank you, I wanted one room to be sunny," Erin told her and then motioned for her to follow her out of the room. "Let's go see where your sisters are." She went to the room to the right of Katie's and knocked on the door. To her surprise, Ellen opened it.

"Didn't you hear me calling you?" Erin asked as she stepped into the room with Katie trailing behind her.

"Nope, sorry," Ellen lied.

"Okay, well I'd like you to meet your sister Katie," Erin said. "Katie, this is your older sister Ellen."

"Hello," Katie said shyly.

"Hello," Ellen said coldly with nasty look on her face; she looked as though she had just smelled something awful.

Katie, who was surprised by her older sister's reaction, knew in an instant that this girl did not like her and she had no idea why that was. "It's nice to finally meet you," she said with a smile.

"Right, me too," Ellen muttered and then turned to her mother. "Can we eat now?"

"Sure," Erin said and then started down the stairs. She heard her brood follow behind her and they all entered the kitchen together. The three Strauss girls automatically went to the correct drawers and cabinets and set up for dinner, while Katie watched, feeling terribly out of place.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked.

"We've got it covered," Ellen said snottily.

Katie stayed quiet for a minute after that, but then she remembered what she'd brought with her. Reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out a sheet of various Strawberry Shortcake stickers. "Here," she said, handing them to Allison, "My friend used to collect stickers and she had some left over and she wanted me to give them to you."

The six year-old's face lit up at the stickers, but she quickly brought her excitement level down when she saw the glare her oldest sister was giving her. "I don't like Strawberry Shortcake," she said as she set the stickers down on the kitchen counter. Oh how it pained her to do that!

"But you told me at dinner that she was your favorite cartoon character," Katie said, confused. She knew she had remembered that correctly because her friend Kayla had gone through a Strawberry Shortcake obsession when they were younger and Allison had reminded her of her friend.

"Well I don't anymore!" She said loudly as she slammed the silverware around the plates on the table.

"Allison Strauss, you watch your temper," Erin warned. She too was confused by Allison's reaction to Katie; she was fairly certain that up until that very morning, her daughter absolutely _loved _Strawberry Shortcake and for her to act that way towards Katie was totally out of character for her. She wondered about the change in attitude amongst her two younger daughters towards Katie and she would bet a large amount of money that her eldest daughter had something to do with it. She knew she would have to keep a close eye on things if she wanted the weekend to go smoothly.


	27. Chapter 27

Family Ties-Chapter 27

* * *

The rest of the dinner was uncomfortable for Katie; not only were her sisters treating her as if she had the plague but she also felt out of place during the all of the conversations. Every time one of her sisters discussed their schools or their friends, Erin had to give her the back story and it made for a disjointed dinner.

Katie was also uncomfortable during dinner because…well, her sisters and mother all ate like birds. While Katie was by no means overweight, she came from an Italian family and to not take seconds during a meal was considered to be an insult to the cook. As a result, Katie had some padding on her and, compared to her sisters who were blonde haired, blue-eyed stick figures, Katie felt like a whale. Even though she'd taken about half of the food that she normally would have, it was still more than anyone and she felt like an idiot.

The teen also wondered what she'd done to make her sisters angry at her. Well, angry wasn't the right word when it came to her two younger sisters but something had happened with them and she wasn't sure what it was. At their Chuck E. Cheese dinner a few weeks previous, they had been warm and receptive to her and they'd all had a good time, but tonight…tonight was much different; they didn't talk to her unless they absolutely had to and when that happened, they stuck to one syllable words. She felt really uncomfortable around them and she found herself wishing she could go home and spend the weekend with her dad. While she wasn't sure what she had done to make her younger sisters treat her the way they were, she was downright confused as to why her older sister apparently hated her. She'd never met the girl, yet she could practically feel the waves of dislike radiating from the older girl's body and she knew that no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't be able to make the girl like her.

After dinner, the five of them retired to the family room and watched _Follow That Bird._ It was an older Sesame Street movie, but it was the only one that everyone could agree on and it was a nice way to pass a few hours. After the G-rated show, Erin suggested that her daughters change into their pajamas for the next movie while she made popcorn. All four girls scurried up the stairs to change so they could get back down to the kitchen while the popcorn was still hot.

After she changed into her pj's, Katie took the opportunity to call her dad. When he asked her how it was going, she lied through her teeth and told him it was going fine; the absolute _last _thing she needed was for him to come and make a scene about how her sisters were acting toward her. She also didn't want him to worry about her and she knew he would if he knew how miserable she was.

After talking to her dad, Katie made her way to the first floor and into the kitchen. As soon as she stepped into the room, she felt like even more of an outsider. All three of her sisters stood in nice, matching pajama sets while she was in her ratty pajama pants and an old, comfortable t-shirt. Compared to the three girls, she felt like an unwashed hobo.

Erin, who looked up as her fourth daughter entered the room, saw her look around and she could sense her discomfort. She had noticed her other daughter's behavior towards Katie at dinner and during the movie and she knew the girl was already feeling out of place and she didn't want her to feel worse, so she decided to compliment her on her attire.

"That's a comfy looking t-shirt, Katie. Did you actually get it at Wall Drug?"

Katie gave a small smile and nodded, glad to finally be included in something. "Mom and dad and I took a cross-country road trip when I was nine and we stopped there for lunch. There were signs for it almost 500 miles away."

"It sounds like it was a fun trip but I'm surprised the t-shirt still fits you," Erin said as she dumped the popcorn from the popper into a bowl.

"I outgrew mine," Katie told her, "So mom gave me hers; that's why it's so big on me."

"She wasn't your mom," Ellen said from her position at the breakfast bar. Upon hearing about Katie's family vacation, she'd become intensely jealous; _her _parents had never taken them on any kind of fun vacation, they were always too busy working or fighting.

"What?" Katie asked, turning towards her older sister.

"I _said_, she wasn't your mom. You keep calling her your mom, but this," she pointed to Erin, "is your mom; the other woman was just the person who raised you."

Katie looked at the floor as she felt tears begin to prick at her eyes; she would _not_ cry in front of her sister, she wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing that. Instead, she said, "Um, I'm kinda tired, I think I'm just gonna go to bed."

"It's too early, Katie," Erin said, pushing her fury at her eldest daughter aside for the moment. "Why don't you stay down here with us and have some popcorn?"

"No thank you," she said in a strained voice and Erin could tell she was about to burst into tears so she simply said, "All right, good night."

"Good night," Katie said, still looking at the floor. With that, she turned and practically ran up the stairs.

As soon as Erin heard her door close, she turned to her other daughters and shot them all a hard look. "I don't know what's going on, but you are DONE treating your sister like that, understand?"

Both Allison and Clara thought their older sister had crossed the line with Katie and they nodded, but Ellen just shrugged.

"Like what?" She asked breezily.

"You know _exactly _what I'm talking about," Erin said and then turned to her two youngest daughters. "You both got along really well with Katie at our dinner and I'm not sure what changed, but I think you really hurt her feelings tonight. I wouldn't be surprised if she's upstairs crying right now."

The guilt trip worked and both of the younger girls felt terrible. "Mommy, can we please go upstairs?" Allie asked.

Erin nodded, "You can and you can stay up there for the rest of the night; if all of you can behave better, we'll give movie night another try tomorrow."

"Okay mom," Clara said, hanging her head; she felt ashamed of herself for treating Katie the way she had and she regretted letting Ellen talk her into it. She knew they owed their sister an apology and she hoped she would accept it.

Erin gave her two younger daughters kisses goodnight and watched as they scurried up the stairs and then she turned to her eldest daughter. "What exactly do you have against your sister?" She asked in a controlled manner, but inside she wanted to shake her daughter until her teeth rattled.

"I don't have anything against either one of them," Ellen said in a normal tone.

"That's not what it looked like to me," Erin responded. "From the time Katie arrived, you've been nothing but rude to her and mean to her and you enlisted your younger sisters in your vendetta!"

"That girl is NOT my sister!" Ellen said, crossing her arms over her chest. "At best, she's my HALF sister, and not even that really."

"That girl IS your sister and you'd better get used to it because she's going to spending time with us from now on!"

"God, why do you always have to always ruin everything?" Ellen yelled. "First you couldn't make it work with daddy, and then you could, and then you couldn't again! Then, Clara finally got better and we were finally happy and then you decided to bring an outsider into our family! Why couldn't you just leave well enough alone?"

"Did you forget that Katie saved your sister's life? If it weren't for her, we would most likely be mourning Clara's death right now!" Erin yelled back.

"So that's why you're doing this, out of some misguided feeling of guilt?" Ellen asked snidely.

"I'm doing this because that girl is as much a part of me as you are! She's my daughter and if there's one thing Clara's brush with death taught me it's that life is too short! I don't want to go through the rest of my life regretting that I didn't get to know Katie when I had the chance!"

Ellen huffed and rolled her eyes, "Can't you just have a normal mid-life crisis like everyone else? Can't you just buy a sports car or have plastic surgery? Did you really have to bring home another daughter? She's not a stray dog, mom, she's a person who's going to be demanding your time and your attention and you don't have much of that to give out as it is!"

"Enough!" Erin yelled as she slammed her hand down on the counter. She saw her daughter's eyes widen at her reaction and she hoped maybe she would finally get through to her. "Whether you like it or not, that girl IS your sister, just as much as Allie and Clara are and she's a part of our lives now; having her in my life in no way lessens the amount of love I feel for you."

"No, it will just lessen everything else! How many times are you going to miss dinner so you can eat with _her_? How many more times are we all going to have to cancel our weekend plans so we can spend time getting to know her? She already had a loving mother once; she shouldn't get a do-over."

Erin sighed, "I swear Ellen, sometimes I don't even know who you are anymore…go to bed and you'd better be in a nicer mood towards all of us tomorrow, or you can forget about going to California with Mandy and her family over spring break."

Ellen was about to retort back, but she could tell by the look on her mother's face that she was serious, so she wisely remained silent. Giving her mother one last glare, she turned on her heel and went up to her room. The loud slamming of her door was heard throughout the house moments later.

While Erin and Ellen were arguing in the kitchen, Allison and Clara made their way up to the second floor and stood in front of their sister's door, trying to work up the courage to knock. Finally, Allie raised her small fist and lightly rapped on the door.

Katie, who had been softly crying in the room, wiped her face and cleared her throat. "Who is it?" She asked in what she hoped was a normal voice.

"It's Clara and Allie, can we come in?" Clara asked, hoping she would say yes.

Katie pondered the question for a minute and finally nodded her head. "Okay," she said softly but it was loud enough for the two girls to hear. They opened the door to the guest room and quickly shut it behind them so the sounds of their mom and older sister arguing would not follow them in.

The three girls stared at each other for a moment until Clara finally broke the silence. "We're sorry about tonight," she said. "We were being mean to you and…well, we're sorry."

Katie looked at the two young girls; she wanted to be mad at them, but she knew the whole situation was weird for them as well and she also guessed that Ellen had pressured them to be unwelcoming towards her and she didn't want to get in the middle of that, so she simply nodded and said, "Thanks."

Her sisters saw that she still looked sad and that made _them_ sad, so they moved closer to her.

"We didn't mean to make you cry!" Allison said as she grabbed a tissue from the box on the dresser and handed it to Katie.

Allison looked like she was about to burst into tears, so Katie gave her a shaky smile and said, "I know you didn't, and I forgive you, really."

"Good," Allison said and then she jumped up on the bed next to Katie and threw her arms around her. Katie returned the hug and they stayed like that for a moment before Allie broke free. "Um, and I actually really LOVE Strawberry Shortcake," she said, hoping her sister would remember about the stickers.

Katie smiled a more genuine smile this time. "I thought you did," she said as she pulled the stickers out of her pocket and handed them to the little girl. Allie grinned as though she had won the lottery and she held the stickers almost reverently.

Clara stood and watched the two of them for a moment before joining in. "I really liked the hair clip you wore at dinner tonight," she said as she sat down on the other side of the teen.

Katie reached over to the bedside table and handed it to the nine year old so she could look at it closely. "Thanks, my dad gave it to me for my birthday."

"Is your dad nice?" She asked as she examined the silver clip.

"He is...he's very nice," Katie said with a soft smile.

Erin, who had finished arguing with her oldest daughter, had come up to the second floor to check on Katie when she heard the conversation through the door. She stood in the hallway and shamelessly eavesdropped for a few minutes before knocking.

"Come in!" Allison called out. Erin opened the door and smiled when she saw the three girls sitting on the bed and talking; she just wished Ellen would take a cue from her youngest daughters.

"How's it going in here?" She asked and the two younger girls who looked at her guiltily.

"I know you sent us to bed mom, but we wanted to tell Katie we were sorry for tonight," Clara told her.

"It's okay Sweetie," Erin told her, "I'm just glad you're all getting along again.

Allison nodded emphatically. "We are, mommy; Katie's really nice."

"Well I'm glad to hear it Allie, but I really think it's time for the two of you to go to bed," Erin said. The two younger girls got up and said goodnight to their mom and Katie before leaving the room.

"I'm sorry it's been such a rough night for you," Erin apologized as she saw the crumpled up Kleenexes on the night table and the fading tear tracks on Katie's face.

"Yeah, well, hopefully it will get better," Katie said as she stared at the sunny bed spread.

"It _will _get better Katie," Erin said firmly and, against her better judgment, Katie believed her.


	28. Chapter 28

Family Ties-Chapter 28

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Thankfully for Katie, the next day _was_ better for her. While she didn't sleep particularly well in the strange bedroom, she managed to get some sleep and when she padded down to the kitchen the next morning, she found Erin and her two younger sisters awake and chatting. The four of them went for a walk around their neighborhood, with her sisters pointing out their favorite places (an ice cream shop for Clara and a large playground for Allie) and their friend's houses. After a downpour cut their walk short, they came back to the house and Erin made crepes for breakfast. Katie had never had a crepe before, but she loved them and she made Erin promise to send the recipe to her dad.

After breakfast, she showered and, since there seemed to be awhile until the next rainstorm hit, the four of them decided to go to Eastern Market in the city. They had a great time perusing the flea market and trying on jewelry and various hats and then they went into the farmer's market area where Erin bought the fixings for nice dinner that evening. Afterward, they visited a few shops in DC and then Erin let Clara and Allison run around the national mall for awhile before they went back to the house.

Once home, Katie stuck close to Erin as she worked on various culinary dishes in the kitchen. They both found it easier to talk in the more relaxed setting of the house than the restaurants they had been meeting at and they both got to know each other better. Every once in a while, Clara or Allie would sit with them, but the conversation quickly grew boring for them and they resumed playing with their Barbie dolls in the den. Ellen, who had not accompanied them into the city, citing a headache as her reason for staying behind, also popped in frequently but she was still quite cold towards Katie and she usually tried steering the conversation towards topics that Katie had no part in, but Erin wouldn't let that happen. Once she realized she wouldn't get her way with her mother, Ellen stalked out of the room and up the stairs, where she remained for the rest of the afternoon.

Dinner that night was wonderful; Erin used the vegetables purchased at Eastern Market to make a nice salad that went well with the baked chicken and fingerling potatoes she'd made for the main meal. The dinner conversation was more inclusive than the night before, so Katie didn't feel like as much of an outsider as she had the previous evening and the meal ended on a high note for her. After dinner, Erin took Allie upstairs for her bath while Clara waited to shower and Katie called her dad and gave him another positive report on her weekend thus far, except this time it was an honest one.

After she hung up with her dad, she changed into her pajamas and settled on her bed and tried working on some of her homework. She knew once Allie was bathed and Clara had showered, they were going to have another movie night so she wanted to get at least some of her homework done before that began. She gave it an honest try, but her mind kept wandering back to the events of the day and it made her smile.

Katie was deep in thought when there was a knock on her door. "Come in," she called out and was surprised when the door opened and her older sister entered the room.

Without saying a word, Ellen shut the door behind her and then walked toward the bed. She had an expressionless look on her face, but her eyes were cold and calculating and it scared Katie a little and she felt the smile drop off of her face. "What-what do you need, Ellen?" She asked, trying to sound strong.

Ellen just stared at her for a minute, and Katie had to remind herself not to squirm under her gaze. Just as she was about to repeat her question, Ellen spoke up.

"She never wanted you, you know," she said almost conversationally. "Ever since the day she found out she was pregnant with you, you've been a giant nuisance in her life, something she wishes she could take back."

"That's not true," Katie said strongly, but inside she was shaking as she stood up to the girl who was trying to make her life hell.

"It _is_ true; even when she was pregnant with you she couldn't wait until you were out of her body so she could resume her normal life, her happy life with me and my dad."

"You're lying. I already know she wasn't overjoyed to find out she was pregnant with me, but she said she regrets giving me over to my dad."

Ellen gave a harsh laugh, "Are you serious? She couldn't _wait_ to give you up! In fact, you're lucky you're here at all!"

"What do you mean?" Katie asked softly; she was pissed she'd let her sister confuse her, but she honestly didn't know what the girl was talking about.

"Here," Ellen said, as she took a book from behind her back and tossed it at Katie. "I could explain, but wouldn't it be better to let our mother do the talking?"

"What is this?" Katie asked as she flipped through the hand written pages of the book.

"It's our mother's journal; specifically, it's the one she kept between 1997 and 1998."

Upon hearing that, Katie gulped, the journal would cover the time she was pregnant with her. "I...I don't want to read this," she said with uncertainty in her voice as she tossed the book on her bed.

"Sure you don't," Ellen said with a smug smile as she backed up towards the door. "I've marked some of the more…interesting pages for you. Happy reading!" With that, she left the room, leaving Katie to stare at the book that was still lying at the foot of her bed.

For the next five minutes, Katie waged an internal battle with herself. On the one hand, it was Erin's private journal and she knew she shouldn't read it. She also knew she should trust what she had told her about regretting giving her up. On the other hand, she _really _wanted to know what was in the book and she wanted to prove Ellen wrong, she wanted to be able to throw the book back in her smirking face and tell her that their mother _did _want her! She could almost hear the devil and angel on each of her shoulders arguing with each other.

Finally, the urge was too much to resist and Katie picked up the journal and opened it to the page Ellen had bookmarked. It was dated eight months before she was born.

_Pregnant! I can't believe I'm pregnant! Just when Timothy and I decided to work things out, just when I started getting respect at work, I had to go and get PREGNANT! I thought I would die when the two lines on the stick turned pink! What in the hell am I going to do with another child? What am I going to tell Tim? How can I have another baby? It will completely derail my career. Damn David Rossi and his super sperm and damn that night when we let our passions take over, even though neither one of us was protected!_

'Okay,' Katie thought, 'she told me she wasn't overjoyed at the idea of being pregnant so I'm sure this was just her initial reaction.' She flipped the page to the next entry and read further.

_I called the clinic and they can get me in on Friday, thank God! Soon I can put all of this behind me, I can forget that I was carrying another man's child. With any luck, Tim won't find out and we can still go to his parent's house for the weekend, like we planned. I've already let this problem consume me for the past two days, I will NOT let it steal any more of my time and attention._

Katie gasped as she read the entry; the journal entry was dated exactly one day after her mother had found out she was pregnant with her! She didn't even _consider_ keeping her and not only that, she had planned on killing her! And what was that part about keeping her weekend plans? It sounded as though she had been a minor medical condition that would be cleared up with medication! Katie wiped the tears away as she kept reading.

_I told David today and damn if he didn't try and convince me to keep the baby! How can he ask me to do that? Doesn't he know all that I stand to lose by having this…this…mistake? I know he's always wanted a family, but he'll have to go about getting one some other way because as of Friday, this whole ordeal will be over._

Mistake? Her mother saw her as a mistake? Her mother saw her predicament as an ordeal?

_Damn that man, he actually talked me into it, he convinced me to have the baby and turn it over to him! Now I know why he's rising so fast in the BAU…hell, the unsubs must not stand a chance when he interrogates them. If he hadn't agreed to cover my living expenses while I'm carrying the child, I would never do it. God, what am I going to tell Tim and Ellen? I'll have to be gone for nearly a year! _

Katie wiped her eyes again and felt a huge feeling of love towards her dad; he'd literally saved her life before she had even taken a breath. She turned back to the journal and saw that Erin had skipped a few months since her last entry.

_Ugh, fat and tired, that's how I look and feel! Why did I let David talk me into this? God, if only I'd had this taken care of when I'd wanted to, I wouldn't feel so shitty. Plus, I would be at home with Ellen and Tim instead of in this apartment in New York. I would kill for a glass of wine and a cigarette, but as David keeps reminding me, I have to watch what I eat for the baby's sake. Stupid baby, I can't deliver fast enough. _

Wow, it seemed like she had been an inconvenience to her mom since the moment she'd been conceived. Almost scared to do it, Katie read through the rest of the journal, which had the same tone throughout it and then she got to the day she was born.

_Thank God that's over with! I never thought I would look forward to giving birth so much! While it hurt like hell, it was wonderful knowing that I was coming to the finish line with this godforsaken pregnancy. I don't know who was happier when I handed the girl to David, him or me. All I know is that I signed that waiver of maternity with absolutely no doubt in my mind. The doctor wants to keep me here over night, but I'm signing myself out AMA. All I want to do is go back to my apartment, recover and then rejoin my family back in DC; I want to forget that I ever had David's baby. I can't wait until this nightmare is completely behind me. _

That was it, Katie had read enough. She threw the book on the bed, grabbed her empty duffel bag from the closet and began packing. She didn't bother folding anything, she just threw everything, including the journal, into the bag and zipped it up. She picked the bag up off of the bed, grabbed her book bag by the door and headed down to the first floor.

Erin, who was making her famous caramel corn, heard a noise in the doorway of the kitchen and looked up with a smile. Her smile faded when she saw Katie standing there with a look of anger on her face. Erin could tell she had been crying.

"Katie, what's wrong?" She asked as she set the bowl of caramel down on the counter.

"I want to go home," she said and that's when Erin saw that she had both of her bags with her.

"Sweetheart, what happened?" She asked. The last time she had seen her daughter, she was happy and she seemed like she was fitting in with everyone. Now she looked angry and hurt and she wanted to know what had changed in the last hour.

Katie just shook her head, "I want to go home, _now_!" She said forcefully and Erin was surprised at how much she sounded like her father.

"Katie, if something happened, tell me and I'll take care of it."

The teen gave a rude snort, as if her mother could take care of _this_! "You can't…you can't do anything…I just want TO LEAVE!" She yelled. She could've told her mother about what she'd read, but what could she say? How could she possibly defend her actions? Not only did she not want her, she'd tried killing her! Then she'd lied about her feelings toward her during all of their lunches together; all of her reassurances that she'd always wanted her were crap! It was better if she just left for good.

Seeing that Erin was about to question her further, Katie continued. "You said, when we set this whole weekend up, that if I wanted to leave at any time during it, then I could and I'm telling you right now that I WANT TO GO HOME!"

Erin knew that questioning the girl wasn't going to get her anywhere, so she tried another tactic. "Katie, I just gave Allie her bath and both she and Clara are in their pajamas, I can't just leave them to take you home."

"That's fine, I'll take the Metro," Katie said as she picked up her bags and headed towards the front door.

"No, I don't want you taking it this late," Erin said as she looked at the clock and saw it was eight o'clock. "Just stay tonight and I'll take you home tomorrow."

"Don't you get it?" Katie yelled as she turned around to face her. "I DON'T want to stay here another minute, I CAN'T! All I want to do is go home and forget about this…all of this!"

"Fine," Erin said softly as Katie opened the door. "But please call me when you get home so I know you got there safely."

As she stepped out onto the porch, Katie snorted, "Yeah, because you really give a shit about me!" With that, she nearly ran down the stairs and down the path to the sidewalk, where she disappeared into the night.

Erin watched her go and then, with a heavy heart, closed the door and leaned against it. She didn't know what had happened to upset Katie so badly but she fairly certain her oldest daughter had played a large part in it.


	29. Chapter 29

Family Ties-Chapter 29

**~I want to give a shout out to all of my reviewers and all of my Facebook friends! Thanks for the encouragement!**

* * *

Erin Strauss sat in her darkened office on Monday morning and willed her migraine to go away. After the disastrous weekend with her daughters, her head was pounding and nothing she took lessened the pain. As she sat at her desk with her head in her hands, she heard a commotion in her outer office and suddenly her inner office door burst open and revealed an angry looking David Rossi.

"What the fuck happened this weekend?" He asked loudly as he slammed the door shut behind him. He got a perverse thrill when he saw his section chief wince at the noise.

"As I told you on Saturday night when I called, I have no idea what happened, David," she said as she lifted her head from her hands. "One minute Katie was happy and smiling and the next she was angry and shouting at me that she wanted to go home. In that short amount of time, she told me exactly _nothing_ that would clue me in to her behavior. Did she say anything to you?"

Dave shook his head as he sat down in one of the chairs across from her desk. "She's not saying _anything_, that's the problem!" As he sat staring at his one-time lover, he thought back to the previous day and a half.

He'd been watching a basketball game in the living room when he heard the front door open. Getting up to investigate, he found his daughter in the front hallway, petting Mudgie and crying quietly. Once he saw her, he didn't say a word, he just knelt down next to her and put his arms around her and she'd fallen into them, crying her heart out.

"What happened, Belle?" He asked gently when she finally pulled out of his arms. He smiled as Mudgie licked her tears away.

Katie shook her head at his question, "I just want to go to bed, dad," she said softly. He wanted to press her on the issue, but he saw a sadness in her eyes that he'd never seen before and he knew he needed to back off, so he just nodded and watched her go up the stairs. Soon after, he heard the shower turn on and, when it turned off, he waited fifteen minutes before going up to her room to tuck her in. The entire time he was in her room, she never said a word; she just stared at the ceiling as tears leaked out of her eyes.

He'd hoped that she would come around on Sunday, that she would talk to him so he could fix whatever had happened, but she hadn't; in fact, she probably said less than ten words all day and _that_ scared the hell out of him. Even when she was pissed as hell at him, she would still talk; maybe not to him, but she would talk to Mudgie and complain to him, but she wasn't even talking to the old hunting dog so Dave knew whatever had happened had affected her deeply.

Shaking his head, he returned his mind to the present and said, "I've never seen her like this before, Erin. Even after I told her the truth about her mother, even after Haley died she showed emotions but now…it's like a zombie has replaced my daughter. Hell, I almost kept her home from school today because she was acting so strange!"

"I don't know what to tell you David," Strauss said tiredly. "She never told me what happened to upset her so much, she just began yelling that she wanted to go home." While what she told him was technically the truth, she just knew that her eldest daughter had played a large part in Katie's breakdown.

As soon as Katie left on Saturday night, Clara and Allie had come down to the kitchen to help with the popcorn. Expecting to see their mom and new sister working on the gooey treat, they instead found Erin staring at the door with a sad and puzzled expression on her face.

"Where's Katie?" Allie asked, looking especially adorable in her footie pajamas.

"She…she decided to go home for the rest of the weekend," Erin told them, not wanting them to know how upset their sister had been.

"What? Why?" Allie asked with tears in her voice. "I thought she was going to watch a movie with us? I thought she was going to stay until tomorrow! She was going to make me happy face pancakes for breakfast in the morning!"

"Something upset her and she decided to leave early," her mother said and then turned to Clara. "Did either one of you say anything to her?"

Clara shook her head, "I haven't talked to her in a few hours; she was working on her homework and then I jumped in the shower, although…"

"Although what?" Erin asked.

Clara looked at the floor, "I saw Ellen leaving her room as I went into the bathroom for my shower." She absolutely _hated _ratting her sister out, but she knew her mom would force the information from her one way or another and she figured it was easier to tell her what she wanted to know early on in the interrogation.

Erin closed her eyes and sighed; she should've known that her eldest daughter wouldn't leave Katie alone. She re-opened her eyes and handed Clara the bowl of caramel corn. "Here, you two go into the den and choose a movie; I'll be down in a few minutes." She watched as her youngest daughters scurried into the den and then she went upstairs to confront her oldest daughter.

As she knocked on Ellen's door, Erin took a deep breath in order to center herself. Hearing a 'come in,' she entered the room with a stern look on her face.

"Did you say something to upset Katie?" She asked bluntly.

Ellen looked surprised by the question. "No mom, I didn't say anything to her." In Ellen's mind, her answer was truthful; technically she hadn't _said _anything to Katie, she'd just given her the material to read. Erin saw through the façade.

"Do NOT lie to me Ellen," she said firmly. "Your sister just left here crying and she was more upset than I've ever seen her. If you said something to her, tell me what it was so I can fix it."

"Mom, I didn't say _anything _to her! Maybe she just finally realized she doesn't belong with us."

Erin crossed the room in three large strides and, in less than a second, she was standing with her face less than a centimeter away from her daughter's. "Your sister belongs here just as much as you do, Ellen and the sooner you get that through your thick skull, the sooner we can all be happy." Ellen tried to pull away from her, but Erin caught her arm in a vice-grip. "If I find out you had _anything _to do with your sister's state of mind, I promise you won't see the light of day for a month!" With that, Erin released Ellen's arm and stormed out of her room.

"Does one of your kids know what might have happened to upset Katie so much?" Dave's voice pulled her back into the present and she shook her head.

"I've been questioning my oldest daughter, but she denies knowing anything."

"Well we have to figure it out, Erin; Katie can't continue on like this, something has to give."

"Maybe if we just give her time to think and cool off, she'll talk to one of us," Erin suggested and Dave, not knowing what else to do, decided to go along with her plan.

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It turned out Erin was wrong, Katie did not return to normal and Dave didn't know what in the hell to do about it. It had been nearly two weeks since Katie had read about her mother's true feelings for her and she was still quiet and introverted. While she talked to him, she only spoke when necessary and even then it was usually one word answers.

He wasn't the only person to notice the change in the teenager. She stayed with Garcia for three days while he was out of town on a case and not only could the bubbly woman _not_ coax any information out of Katie, the teen was as quiet and reserved around Garcia as she was with everyone else. Garcia had shared her concerns with Dave once he returned to the BAU.

The last straw came when her teacher called him. Normally Katie was an A/B student but her teacher reported that within the last few weeks, the quality of her work had lowered, she had missed numerous assignments and she'd even failed a test. It was at that point when Dave knew he had to do something drastic in order to snap Katie out of whatever funk she was in.

On Friday afternoon, he pulled up to her school and waited for the dismissal bell. Soon after it rang, a surprised Katie opened the door. "What are you doing here, dad?" She asked, almost in a monotone.

"I thought we could go to the cabin for the weekend. I know it's still cold out, but I need a change of scenery, don't you?"

Katie thought for a minute and then nodded her head; a change of scenery _would _be nice and maybe the new surroundings would let her clear her mind of that night at Erin's house. "Sounds good," she replied as she rested her head against the car window and watched the world go by. Soon, she was asleep against the front door and Dave was glad she was resting since he didn't think she had been sleeping well lately.

Once they arrived at the cabin, they pretty much unpacked and then relaxed for the rest of the evening. Katie was still quiet and withdrawn, but Dave could tell that being at the cabin made her happier and he didn't try to push her to talk to him.

The next day, the two Rossi's and Mudgie got up early so they could catch some fish. They came away empty handed, but it was nice for both of them to be on the water,so they didn't mind that they were outfoxed buy a bunch of fish. After their morning of fishing expedition, they went hiking in the woods around the cabin. At around two o'clock, their hungers got the best of them and they headed towards the cabin. Once inside, both of them smelled food cooking on the stove and they walked towards the kitchen.

As soon as she entered the kitchen, Katie stopped dead in her tracks and just stared for a moment until she finally found her voice. "What in the hell are _you_ doing here?" She yelled at her biological mother.


	30. Chapter 30

Family Ties-Chapter 30

_~So I don't normally do this (but maybe it'll be come a regular thing) but I've been reading a great CM fanfic story and I don't think it's been getting a lot of attention. If you like the types of stories I write (team member with a kid) then you'll probably like this one by Cantoris. It's Sonata in G and it's at http: / / fanfiction .net /s/7189009/1/Sonata_in_G (remove the spaces). Be sure to drop her a review!_

_~And to all of my reviewers, you guys rock! Seriously, reviews are what keep me motivated!_

* * *

Dave, for his part, was actually somewhat relieved by Katie's angry reaction at seeing her mother…it was the most emotion she'd shown in days and she was finally acting somewhat normal. "I invited her," he told her calmly, but inside he wondered if everything would backfire, if this mini-intervention would only make things worse.

Katie looked at him in open mouthed shock. "Why would you do that? You KNOW how I feel about her!" She said loudly with a look of betrayal and disbelief on her face; she had _never_ expected her dad and birth mother to gang up on her like this.

"No, I DON'T know how you feel about her since you won't talk to me about what happened that night you came home so upset!" Dave responded and then forced himself to calm down a little; he knew that if he started out by shouting at her, she would clam up tighter than Fort Knox security. "Honey, I invited Erin over so we could get to the bottom of whatever happened at her house during the weekend you spent there. You need to snap out of this funk you're in; it's affecting your entire life."

"No it's not," Katie spat as she took turns shooting glares at both Dave and Erin. "I'm fine."

"You're NOT fine Katie and it ends here! I want to know what happened at Erin's house and I want to know RIGHT NOW!" So much for keeping my cool, Dave thought as the words shot out of his mouth, but if his daughter thought she was going to deny that anything had happened and get away with it, she had another thing coming.

As he'd originally feared, after his order Katie's lips clamped together tightly and she sat down at the kitchen table with her arms crossed over her chest and she refused to look at either of them. Erin, who had daughters, knew how to deal with teenage girls better than Dave, so she turned off the stove, sat down next to Katie and tried to have more patience than her one-time lover.

"I thought you were having a good time that weekend, Katie," she started softly. "I know it started out rough, but I thought by Saturday night we were all having fun. Did I do something to upset you?"

Katie felt her resolve weakening; she didn't want to go through all of this with her parents…how could Erin possibly explain what she'd written while she was pregnant with her? But she also knew that the two of them were expert interrogators and they would eventually get the information they wanted from her. As she sat there, looking between the two adults, her anger flared up again at the thought of being ambushed by the two of them and she decided not to make it easy for them. Instead of answering Erin, she just stared at a spot on the wall.

Erin, who hadn't made it to the rank of section chief by being out-witted by stubborn teenagers, continued her questioning. "If it wasn't me, was it Allie? Clara? Honey, did Ellen say something to upset you?"

As soon as Ellen's name was out of Erin's mouth, Katie jumped up from the table and yelled, "Leave me ALONE!" She then tried running out of the room, but Dave caught her arm and prevented her from leaving.

"You're not going _anywhere_ until we get to the bottom of this, now sit down!" He ordered and Katie, who really wanted to tell him to fuck off, decided to preserve her life past the next fifteen seconds and kept her mouth shut as she angrily flopped back down into her chair. Dave sat down on the other side of her in case she decided to run again

Both he and Erin noticed that Katie had reacted when Erin mentioned her eldest daughter and they both correctly assumed that she had something to do with both Katie's early departure from the family weekend and her state of mind over the past two weeks. Dave wanted to continue his brand of interrogation but he reluctantly acknowledged to himself that Erin's softer approach had gotten both a reaction out of Katie and a bit of information, so he nodded at her to continue.

"What did Ellen say to you?" She asked and was a little surprised when Katie responded.

"She didn't _say_ anything to me!" As much as Katie disliked her older sister, she knew there was a code amongst siblings and the first rule of that code was 'don't rat each other out.' There was no WAY Katie was going to tattle on her and make her hate her even more!

Erin, who caught the slight emphasis on the word 'say,' remembered that her eldest daughter had done the same thing the night she questioned her. "Did she do something to you?" She didn't think that Ellen would physically hurt Katie, but she had to be sure.

"She didn't do anything! God, can't you just let it go?" Katie asked as tears sprung to her eyes.

Erin shook her head, "I can't let it go, Katie, I care about you too much to ignore what's happening with you."

To everyone's surprise, Katie laughed harshly at that statement. "You care about me? Now THAT'S the joke of the century!"

"I _do_ care, honey."

"NO you DON'T!" Katie screeched as she once again shot to her feet. Dave rose as well, but Katie said, "I need to get something from my duffel bag…I'm not going anywhere." The time had come to let her mother know that she knew how she really felt about her, but she needed the journal to do that. Thankfully she'd kept it in her duffel bag, the same bag her dad had packed for her for their impromptu trip and she could show her the proof she had about how her true feelings towards her.

Dave nodded and stepped to the side, "Do you know what this is about?" He asked, once Katie was out of the room.

Erin shook her head, "I have no idea," she said, confused by their daughter's reaction.

Katie returned to the kitchen and tossed a book onto the table. As Erin caught a glimpse of it, she paled and she felt her heart rate accelerate exponentially. "Where did you get this?" She asked shakily.

"Does it really matter?" Katie asked snidely as she sat back down in her chair.

"It does; this was in my personal belongings and if you want us to respect your privacy, then-" Katie interrupted Erin's weak defense.

"I didn't go looking for it…I found it," the teen lied.

Erin stared at her for a moment and realized the girl was lying. "Katie, this was well hidden in my locked file cabinet; there is no WAY you could have just found it. Ellen gave it to you, didn't she?" Unfortunately, she could envision her eldest daughter pulling this kind of stunt.

"Who cares who gave it to me? Is. It. TRUE?" She yelled.

"Does someone want to explain to me what this book contains?" Dave asked, confused. To him it just looked like a plain, black, leather bound book.

"It's one of my old journals…the one I kept while I was pregnant with Katie," Erin told him and the two women could almost see the light bulb going on in Dave's head as the realization hit him.

"Oh shit," he whispered as he picked up the book. He skimmed the pages that Ellen had marked and he got a very clear picture as to why his daughter had been so out of sorts since her visit to Casa de Strauss.

"Are you EVER going to answer my question?" Katie yelled at Erin after a few moments of silence.

"I...I'm not sure HOW to answer it, Katie. At the time, yes, I guess it was true but-"

"But WHAT? You wrote in there that you didn't want me, that you never wanted me and that you were GLAD to hand me over to dad, yet you keep telling me NOW that you never regretted having me, that you regretted giving me up! So which is it Erin? Have I always been an inconvenience to you? If you hadn't needed my bone marrow for Clara, would you ever have contacted me?"

"Katie, I was a different person back then; I was younger, I was career oriented and I thought I knew what I and when I wrote those things, yes, I meant them at the time, but-"

Katie cut off her mother's explanation with a violent shake of her head, "You wrote about me like I was some kind of disease! You talked about going to the clinic like you were going to have a mole removed, but you were going to KILL me! Why didn't you tell me all of this when we met? Why did you continually lie to me and tell me that I was always wanted when I WASN'T?"

"What was I supposed to do, Katie?" Erin asked a bit snappily. "When we first met, I knew that one wrong word out of my mouth would've sent you running and I wasn't about to risk that! The important thing is that, right now, I can't imagine my life without you in it!"

"Well you're going to have to do more than _imagine _your life without me in it because I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" She screamed as tears poured out of her eyes.

"You don't mean that honey, you're upset and-"

Once again, Katie interrupted the woman with a shake of her head. "NO! Don't you DARE call me honey! I'm NOT your honey or your sweetheart, I'm nothing to you! Stay out of my life!"

"I can't do that, Katie! Like it or not, you're a part of me now and you're a part of my family and I _won't _let you go that easily!" Erin said firmly. She knew the journal must have been a shock to the teen but there was no _way_ she was going to let her go that easily; she'd done that once already and she wasn't going to do it again. "We have worked _way_ too hard on our relationship to let something I wrote fourteen years ago destroy it. I am your mother and-"

"You are NOT MY MOTHER and you NEVER will be!" With that, Katie bolted out of her chair and, before her father could stop her, she ran out the back door and into the woods that surrounded the cabin.

After Katie left, the two adults sat in silence for a minute, just staring at the book that had caused so much trouble.

"Are you a fucking idiot?" Dave finally asked in a barely controlled voice.

"David-" Erin started, but Dave wouldn't let her speak.

"How in the hell could you leave this lying around? How could you let it fall into the wrong hands and HOW could you write such terrible things about my daughter?" By the end, his voice was loud enough to rattle the windows and Erin knew she could never match his anger at that point.

"It was my journal from that time, Dave and I sure as HELL wasn't going to censor my thoughts and feelings. Did I feel that way then? Yes. Do I feel that way about her now? Of course not, but who writes in their journal thinking that someone will eventually read it?"

Dave could kind of see her point; he knew that many things he wrote in his journal would not be complimentary towards certain people, including the woman who was seated across from him and he would be mortified if it ever fell into the wrong hands. "The fact that you _ever_ felt that way towards Katie, it just…God, it's actually struck me speechless! I didn't know you despised her or me so much! If I had, I wouldn't have let you within twenty miles of her!"

"I've changed Dave," Erin said softly. "Having my own girls changed me plus I'm older now and I've seen a lot of things that have made me reprioritize. If I had to go through my pregnancy with her now, I would do a lot of things differently."

"Well I'm glad you finally see the light, Erin, but this goddamned thing has just solidified every worry, fear and doubt Katie has ever had about you!" Dave shouted.

"I know that David and I'm sorry it happened, but I can't take back what I wrote! Right now my focus _has_ to be on fixing things with Katie," she told him.

Dave gave a loud, mirthless snort. "Good fucking luck with that! Your words, your feelings from back then have hurt her badly and, knowing my daughter, I don't know if you'll ever get her back!"

"Dave," she began, but he put up a hand to silence her.

"I think you've said and _written_ enough, Erin and you need to leave. Maybe you should go home and figure out why your daughter wanted to hurt her sister so badly."

Erin bristled at his parenting advice, but that had been her plan ever since Katie had reacted to her sister's name in the conversation. "I'll go, but this isn't over; I won't stop until I fix this with her," she said as she stood up and grabbed both the journal and her coat.

Dave just shook his head as she spoke; Katie did not forgive or forget easily and this was a deep hurt and betrayal for her. He honestly didn't see a relationship between her and Erin ever happening again, but he kept his mouth shut and instead walked her to the door.

She left without saying another word and after she was gone, Dave went into the great room and sank down onto the sofa. He decided to give Katie some time to cool off before he went out looking for her but all he really wanted to do was wrap his arms around her and assure her that everything would be all right.


	31. Chapter 31

Family Ties-Chapter 31

* * *

Erin was seething as she drove down the back country highway towards DC; how could her daughter have done that to Katie? How could she be so mean…so horrible? That wasn't the way she had raised her and she was at a loss as to why Ellen felt such animosity towards Katie while her younger siblings had accepted her so quickly. No matter what the reason, her eldest daughter was in for a reckoning and she knew it was a good thing that she had such a long drive home because maybe it would give her a chance to calm down and not kill her daughter outright.

As she pushed her anger at Ellen aside, Katie jumped into her mind and she wanted to cry. No child should ever find out that they weren't wanted and Erin knew if she had been smart, she would've burned the journal long ago, but she hadn't and now she had to face the consequences for her thoughts and actions from nearly fourteen years ago. While it was true that she _hadn't _wanted Katie at first, what was also true is that she loved her now and she hoped she could get through to the teenager…that they could eventually get past her words from so long ago.

Erin kept replaying the confrontation in her mind as she drove to her house. When she finally arrived, she put Katie out of her mind so she could focus on her older daughter. She pulled into the garage, cut the engine and then burst into the house where her daughters were making a late afternoon snack.

"Hi mom, where were-" Clara stopped short as she looked up at her mother and saw the thunderous look on her face.

"I would like to speak with you in your bedroom Ellen," she said though clenched teeth. "You two stay down here," she ordered her youngest daughters and then started up the steps.

"What'd you do?" Clara whispered to her older sister as the girl turned an unnatural shade of white.

"I don't know," Ellen said as she racked her brain trying to figure out what she'd done that would upset her mother so much.

"NOW, Ellen!" Erin barked from the top of the staircase. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling when she heard her youngest daughter say, in a breathless awe, "Mommy's maaaaaaad!"

Ellen heard her sister's remark as well and she gulped as she walked up the stairs but by the time she reached the top of the staircase, she had a haughty look on her face.

"What is it mother?" She asked snippily as she entered her room. Erin slammed the door shut behind her and the teen's expression took on an air of fear.

"How could you? How could you give my personal and private journal to your sister? You _knew _what I'd written and you gave it to her anyway? What is WRONG with you?"

"Mother, I have no idea what you're talking about," Ellen lied as she wiped the sweat off of her upper lip.

"Do NOT lie to me, Ellen Marie Strauss!" Erin yelled.

"I'm NOT lying, Mother!" Ellen shouted back.

"I KNOW you're the one who gave Katie my journal…the one from when I was pregnant with her!"

Ellen stared at her mother for a moment and decided that she couldn't get away with lying; Katie must have given her up the second her mother looked at her. "So what? Did Katie rat me out as soon as she saw you? What a little tattletale!"

"Katie didn't give you up, you did just now! I knew in my heart that you were the one to give it to her, but she wouldn't betray you for anything! Unlike you, SHE knows the meaning of loyalty!"

Ellen, who couldn't believe she had fallen for her mother's trick, shook her head. "Dammit!"

"You watch your mouth, young lady," Erin warned. "You're in enough trouble already."

"So what if I gave her the journal? The words were true, weren't they? You _never_ wanted her! I just wanted her to know what she was getting into with our family," the teen said as she sat down on her bed.

Erin, who remained standing, towered over her daughter. "Cut the crap, Ellen, you've wanted to drive her away from our family from the beginning and you acted in an unbelievably underhanded and mean way in order to get what you wanted. Setting aside the fact that you've pretty much traumatized Katie, how could you invade my privacy like that? Those were my private words, Ellen, meant for no one else but me! How would you like it if _I _invaded _your_ privacy?" She asked as she opened her daughter's top dresser drawer and began rifling through it.

"Mother, stop it," Ellen said as she stood up and shut the drawer.

"What's the matter Ellen?" Erin said as she stared going through her daughter's desk drawer. "You can dish it out, but you can't take it?"

"This isn't fair!"

"No, I'll tell you what's not fair," Strauss said. "Your treatment of your sister isn't fair!"

"That girl is NOT MY SISTER!" Ellen shouted and Erin had to resist the almost overwhelming urge to slap her across the face.

"How many times do I have to tell you? SHE IS YOUR SISTER! She's your sister as much as Clara and Allie are!" Erin thundered. "And not _once_ has she ever done anything to deserve such horrible behavior from you. In fact, if it weren't for her, Clara would probably be dead by now."

"Never did anything? Are you kidding?" Ellen asked rhetorically. "She broke you and daddy up! It's because of her that you and daddy were constantly fighting!"

"It is NOT her fault that your father and I divorced; we had problems long before Katie entered the picture!"

"Whatever! You can feed me that line all you want, but I'll never believe it. That girl is the reason our family broke up and I'll NEVER accept her as my sister or anything else!" Erin yelled defiantly.

"That's IT!" Erin shouted. You're grounded!"

"For how long?" Ellen asked in a whiny disbelief.

"Indefinitely," Erin told her in a steely voice, "But I wouldn't make plans for at least the next month!"

"MONTH?"

Erin nodded, "Yes month, and that means you're back here by four o'clock every afternoon, you're in bed by ten o'clock every night and no TV, no laptop," she said as she grabbed the computer off of her daughter's desk. "No iPod," she continued as she took the music player from the nightstand, "and no cell phone," she told her as she pulled the device from the charger on the dresser. "And you can forget about going to California with Mandy's family over spring break!"

"You can't DO that!" Ellen screeched as she stomped her foot.

"YES, I CAN!" Erin shouted back at her. "And you WILL be a model prisoner or I'll just tack on more time to your sentence!"

"I hate you!" The teen screamed at her as she turned to leave the room.

"Well guess what Ellen, you're not exactly my favorite person in the world right now either!" Erin said as she closed the door behind her.

xxxxxxxxxx

It had been two hours since Katie had stormed out of the cabin and while Dave was beginning to worry about her a little, he knew she needed some time to cool off and she knew the woods around the cabin like the back of her hand, so he decided to wait a little longer before he went out looking for her. In order to keep his mind off of the confrontation that taken place earlier in the day, he began to cook the side dishes for the dinner of grilled steaks he had planned. His cooking was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone.

He grabbed the gadget off of his belt and groaned when he saw the caller id. "What do you want, Erin?" He barked in lieu of a more polite greeting.

"How is she, Dave? Is she as upset as she was? Has she calmed down any?" Erin had made herself a cup of tea and had tried to relax before calling him, but it hadn't worked; she needed to know her daughter was alright.

"She's not back yet, Erin," Dave told her as he peeled a potato.

"But it's been over two hours! Why aren't you out looking for her?"

"Because I want to give her some time to cool down; she's spent a lot of time in the woods and she knows what she's doing."

"I want to take her to dinner some night this week," Erin said. "I have to explain to her that while I might have felt that way when I was pregnant, I don't feel that way about her now."

"Well good luck with that, Erin," Dave said with a harsh laugh. "I have a feeling she's not going to want to see you for awhile and I'm sure as HELL not going to force her."

"I can always take you to court," she started but Dave cut her off.

"You do that Erin and I'll put zombie Katie on the stand so quickly it'll make your fucking head spin," he snarled. "And then, just for fun, I'll give the judge your journal to read. How do you think that would play out?"

Erin, realizing what was at stake, backpedaled. "I'm sorry David, I misspoke, of course I wouldn't drag Katie through a custody hearing…I just don't want to lose her over this." Dave could almost hear the tears at the other end and it melted his heart a little.

"You need to give her time Erin, you need to let her process this at her own speed. If you try to bully her into seeing you, she'll just resent you even more. Give her time and maybe she'll come around."

"You won't try to stop her, will you? I know I'm not your favorite person and you're probably pissed about the damage I've done to Katie, but-" Her rambling was interrupted by the profiler.

"I won't stop her from seeing you, but I also won't force her. I'm Switzerland in this conflict, Erin." That wasn't quite true; although he wouldn't take sides, he was DEFINITELY more concerned about the well-being of his daughter than he was his one-time lover and if he had to intervene, it would be on Katie's behalf.

Erin sighed heavily, "I guess that's all I can ask for. Thank you, David."

"I'm not doing this for you, Erin, I'm doing it for Katie."

"I know, but thank you anyway." With that, Dave heard a click as the call disconnected and he went back to peeling the potatoes.

Ten minutes after his conversation with Strauss ended, Dave heard the patio door slide open behind him.

"I didn't run away," Katie said quickly, knowing both his feelings about her running away and the consequences for doing so. "I just needed to get away for a little while." Dave turned around and was about to let her know there really wasn't a difference between 'running away' and 'disappearing without a word for over two hours,' nor was there a difference in the consequences, but as soon as he got a good look at her, the small amount of anger he felt towards her melted.

It was obvious she'd been crying, as was evidenced by the tear stains on her cheeks, but she also looked like she'd been injured. She had twigs and leaves in her hair, a scrape on her chin and the palm of her hand, which she was cradling, and she was putting most of her weight on her right foot.

"What happened?" He asked as he wiped his hands on a dishtowel and then came towards her. "You're a mess."

"I tripped over a tree root," she said with tears in her voice. "And I scraped myself up _and _I twisted my ankle."

"Well, let's get you cleaned up. Can you walk?" Katie nodded and limped a few steps towards the great room. Dave just rolled his eyes and then scooped her up into his arms and carried her into the great room and up the stairs, where he sat her down on the bathroom counter.

As he pulled the various bandages and wound cleaners out of the cabinet, he asked, "Are you okay?"

She nodded, "My hand stings, and my ankle hurts, but I'll be okay."

"That's good, but that's not what I meant," he said as he wet a washcloth with soap and water and began gently wiping the scrape on her chin. "I _mean_, are you okay after what happened this afternoon?"

"Not really," the teen said sadly and Dave knew her tears weren't too far from the surface.

"Why didn't you tell me, Belle?" He asked as he moved to the scrape on her hand.

She shook her head, "I don't know…I guess I thought this was something between her and me and I didn't want you getting involved. I know you don't like her and I know you're not exactly happy about all of the time I've been spending with her-"

"Now wait just a minute," he said sternly as he grabbed the peroxide. "When have I ever told you that I don't like you spending so much time with her?"

Katie hissed as the chemical hit her scrapes, "Never, I guess," she admitted.

"That's right, because I'm NOT against you spending time with her _or_ your sisters," he said. "And I never will be."

"Yeah, well, I don't think that's going to be a problem since I'm not going to see them again."

"That's your decision," he told her as he began bandaging her cuts, "But I don't think Erin will let it go that easily."

"God, why _not_? She obviously doesn't care about me!"

"She may not have cared back then, but she does now. A lot can change in fourteen years, Katie Belle, especially when you work in our profession." He put the gauze away and began rifling through the cabinet for an ace bandage.

"You're actually defending her?" She screeched, wondering if she had fallen into a rabbit hole during her trek through the woods.

"I'm _not_ defending her, I just know that you've been really happy the last couple of months and I would hate to see you give all of that up."

"Are you going to make me see her?" The teen asked as Dave sat down on the closed toilet and began wrapping her ankle.

"I'm going to tell you the same thing I told her; I won't help her get you back, but I won't stop her either," he told her."

"Thanks dad, thanks for being on my side," the teen said sarcastically.

"Hey! It's not about sides, it's about your happiness," he said as he put the clips on the bandage to hold it in place. "Now let's go down to the kitchen; even sitting, you can help me with the salad."

"Okay," Katie said in a softer tone. "Hey dad?"

"Yeah?" He responded as he bent down to pick her up again; there was no way he was going to let her take the stairs on her injured ankle.

"Thanks for wanting me," she practically whispered as tears pooled in her eyes.

He scooped her up into his arms again and kissed her forehead, "I love you Katie; I loved you then and I love you now and _nothing _will ever change that."


	32. Chapter 32

Family Ties-Chapter 32

* * *

Three weeks later, Dave was ready to strangle his teenage daughter. If he thought her silence had been bad, well, her current moodiness and poor behavior were even worse! There were days he actually prayed for the silence to come back because if it didn't, if she mouthed off to him one more time, he couldn't promise that he wouldn't drop her off at the nearest convent and let _them_ deal with her.

Ever since the blowup with Erin and her journal, Katie had become a moody, snarling, sullen and rude teenager. While he still loved his daughter, he didn't like her very much and he was stunned by the way her mood could change in an instant; it was like living with Sybil sometimes. Hell, there were times he thought he could write a paper about her for the psych journals! On one Friday night, he'd politely asked her to let Mudgie out so he could use the outdoor facilities and she'd snarled back at him that she was busy watching TV and if it was so freaking important to him, he could do it himself. THAT had earned her two days in her bedroom. It had gotten so bad that _Garcia _had actually grounded her for a few days while he'd been out of town and he didn't think _anything_ could rattle the perpetually perky technical analyst!

He knew part of it was simply her age; he'd gotten off easy so far, but puberty was catching up with her and he knew he was in for a wild ride over the next couple of years. He also knew a lot of it had to do with what she was going through with Erin and her sisters. True to her word, Erin hadn't let it go with Katie; she called the girl's cell phone every day, but Katie never answered it, and she also emailed her numerous times, but to his knowledge his daughter hadn't responded. It looked as if she was going to make good on her statement of never seeing Erin or her sisters again and he had mixed feelings about that.

On the one hand, Erin's written words had hurt Katie deeply and he could understand her hesitation towards the woman. Hell, it was only a few months previous when the woman's spoken words had cut her and he wasn't sure he _wanted _her to get involved with Erin again; at least this way she wouldn't get hurt. On the other hand, Katie had been genuinely happy when she'd had her biological mother in her life and he wanted her to have a relationship with her sisters…well, at least her two younger sisters, her older sister could fall off the face of the earth for all he cared. It had taken all of his control not to confront the girl directly, but he finally decided he didn't want to get into a pissing match with a sixteen-year old girl and he'd calmed down.

Thankfully, this particular night she'd gone to a movie with her friend Kayla and her family, so Dave had the place to himself. Normally he wouldn't let her go out on a school night, but he'd made an exception for her, hoping that maybe being with her best friend would put her in a better mood. God help them both if it didn't.

He'd just opened the box of pizza and was about to help himself to a slice while he watched a baseball game, when the doorbell rang. He gave his precious pizza a longing look as he got up to open the door and, when he did, he was surprised to see who was on the other side.

"Erin," he said as he slid his poker face firmly into place.

"David, may I come in?" She asked.

Dave was both surprised that she was at his door and the desperate look on her face, so he stood to the side and let her in.

"Katie's not here, Erin," he said as he shut the door and went back into the living room. Erin followed and sat down on the sofa next to his easy chair. "And even if she was, I doubt she would want to see you."

"I know, she's made that abundantly clear," Strauss said as she ran a hand through her hair. Dave recognized the gesture as one of frustration. "I also know she isn't here tonight; I overheard you inviting Aaron Hotchner over and you let him know Katie would be out tonight. Really Dave, you're letting her go out on a school night?"

"Is that why you're here? To critique my parenting skills?" Dave snapped, his ire rising. "Because it doesn't seem like you're the perfect parent either, Erin, or did you forget about your oldest daughter's torment of Katie?"

"No, I'm sorry David, I didn't mean…" a look of sadness came over her and she didn't finish her sentence, which shocked Dave more than her showing up at his door at seven-thirty at night. He sighed, damn if he wasn't starting to feel a tiny bit sorry for her.

"Want a slice?" He asked, gesturing at the pizza box.

Erin nodded and he grabbed a paper towel from the roll on the coffee table, plopped a slice onto it and handed it to her, along with a beer. Erin took a bite and then smiled.

"This is heavenly, although I think I taste, what? Three kinds of meat?"

"Four," he corrected as he took his own bite. "Katie won't let me eat this kind, something about not wanting me to drop dead of a heart attack, so I sneak it when she's out."

Erin's smile faded at the mention of their daughter. "How is she, Dave? I can't tell you how horrible I feel about what happened. I know I should've destroyed that journal but, for better or for worse, it's a part of me and I didn't want to get rid of my history."

"You _should_ have destroyed it, but what's done is done," he said tiredly. "Katie is…I don't know; she's changed. She's no longer the sunny girl she was a year ago. I know part of it is her age, but I don't think that's all of it. Not only is she moody and irritable, she's also disrespectful and rude…I think she just doesn't care anymore. I can also tell she has an undercurrent of sadness running through her; sometimes, when she thinks I'm not looking, she seems like she's on the verge of tears."

Strauss sighed and shook her head, "I really screwed things up, didn't I? I should've just left this whole thing alone, I should've just put Clara in the bone marrow registry pool."

Dave shook his head, "You did what you had to do in order to save your kid; I didn't realize it at the time, but looking back on it, I would've done exactly the same thing in order to save Katie."

Erin looked up at him in shock; was he really trying to make her feel better? Had the world gone topsy-turvy? Dave caught her surprised look and gave her a wry smile. "Hey, just like you're not the ice queen that everyone makes you out to be, I'm not the self-involved asshole that everyone thinks I am."

She returned his smile as she remembered why they had fallen in love so long ago. "No you're not," she agreed.

"While you _did_ upset the applecart with the way you barreled into her life, I suppose I'm at fault with that, too. Janet and I should've told her about her adoption from the beginning; it wasn't fair to keep it from her for all of these years. And even though you were…less than nice to her in the beginning, I saw how you changed with her and how you seemed to genuinely care about her," he said, wondering what kind of fucked up world they lived in that he was actually _defending_ the woman in front of him.

"Seem, David, it's not past tense, even though she's made it abundantly clear that she wants nothing to do with me or my daughters, I still love her as much as I do them." There was silence in the room, as they both at their slices of pizza, before Erin spoke again. "How do I fix this? How can I get her back?"

"Erin," Dave began, but the woman cut him off.

"I know Dave, I know you said you're Switzerland in this conflict, but I _have _to get her back! And if you help, you won't just be helping me, you'll be helping Katie! You just said she's changed for the worse; maybe if she and I got back to where we were, or at least tried, it would improve her mood and behavior," she said quickly. "Please Dave."

Part of him wished he had a video camera, because footage of Erin Strauss begging would've sold for millions at the Bureau, but he didn't, so he focused on the problem at hand. He thought about it for a minute and then nodded. "Dammit Erin, you're pretty much forcing me to go against my daughter, but I'll do just about anything at this point to get the old Katie back." Erin lit up, but before she could get too excited, Dave held up his hand to slow her down. "I do, however, have a couple of conditions."

"Okay," Erin said hesitantly.

"First, you stop threatening to drag this through the courts. No matter what happens, we resolve it here, not in a courtroom, even if Katie remains firm in her decision to cut ties with you."

"All right," she agreed; he was right, a long, drawn out court battle wouldn't do any of them any good.

Dave continued, "The only other stipulation I have is that I don't want Katie around your daughter Ellen, not until she gets over her hatred towards her. This has been bad enough, but I don't know what Katie would be like after another confrontation with her. If she ever agrees to give you another chance, you, Allison and Clara can see her, but not Ellen and I won't let Katie stay over at your house until I am assured Ellen is fully on board with everything."

Erin thought for a moment and then nodded, "While it's not the ideal situation, your stipulation is fair, I also don't want to put Katie through any more trauma."

Dave stared at her for a moment, nodded and then stood up. "Wait here," he said as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a set of keys. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered to himself as he re-entered the living room and tossed them to her.

"What are these?" She asked in surprise.

"The keys to my cabin in Little Creek; Katie loves it there and it's totally secluded. It's also about a five mile walk to the nearest house and Metro station, so she won't be able to run off."

"What?" She asked, her surprise turning to confusion.

Dave sighed, "Take her there, Erin, take her there and try to work out your differences. It'll be a comfortable setting for her, there won't be any distractions and you won't be disturbed. Pick her up from school at lunch time tomorrow and go to the cabin for the weekend."

Erin's jaw dropped in shock; sure, she'd come to his house hoping for his help, but she'd never expected _this _from him! She quickly began making mental plans to have their housekeeper stay with the girls for the weekend as Dave continued.

"She does have a new proclivity for running off into the woods when she's mad, but she loves going down to the pond and if you take the trail at the western edge of the property, it'll lead you to it. The place is well-stocked with groceries and Katie has clothes and other personal items there, so you don't need a bag or anything else for her."

Still in shock, Erin finally found her voice, "David, I don't…thank you! I know I don't deserve this, and I know you're taking a big chance-"

"Just fix it, Erin. As much as I've hated to admit it, Katie was much happier and sunnier with you and your daughters in her life and I want that for her again; I will do just about anything to ensure that."

Erin wanted to thank him again, but she knew it would just irritate him, so she nodded. "Will you let her know about it, or should I?"

He shook his head, "I think it should be a surprise, that way she doesn't have time to think of more reasons to hate you and she won't have as much time to formulate arguments in her head."

"Won't she be upset when she sees me at her school?"

"School is the one place where she _won't _make a scene. She'll let you know all about her unhappiness in the car, but she'll be okay in the school," he told her.

"All right then," Strauss said as she stood to leave, "Thank you for this, David, really."

"I'm doing it for her, Erin, not you."

"I know, but thank you anyway."

Dave nodded as he walked her to the door. "Don't make me regret this, Erin," he said as he shut the door behind her.

xxxxxxxxxx

The next day, Katie was puzzled when she heard her name over the schools P.A. system, summoning her to the office. As she made her way there, she ran through her recent activities and there were none that would've gotten her into trouble so she wasn't sure what the summons was about. As soon as she stepped through the office doors, she saw Erin standing at the counter, talking with the school secretary.

"What are _you_ doing here?" She asked with a glare.

"I'm taking you out of school early today so we can talk; your father already cleared it," Erin said calmly as she saw the anger on her daughter's face.

"No thanks," she said as turned to leave the room, "I don't want to go _anywhere_ with you!"

"Kate Lynn Rossi," Erin said in a stern voice and both the tone and the use of her full name stopped Katie in her tracks. She turned and glared at her biological mother as she continued. "You _are _coming with me, whether you want to or not, so grab your book bag and let's go."

Katie was stunned by her mother's order and even though she wanted to tell her to go to hell, she wouldn't humiliate herself by making a scene at school so she picked up her book bag and followed her mother out the door and into her car.

The first ten minutes of the ride were silent until Katie realized where they were headed, "Are you kidding? We're going to the cabin?"

Erin nodded, "Your dad gave me the keys so we can have a weekend free of distractions and interruptions."

"Traitor," she mumbled and then asked, "Are Clara, Allie and Ellen already there?"

"No, it's just going to be me and you for the next two days."

"Great," the teen muttered sarcastically as she stared out the window, "just perfect!"

Erin knew she wouldn't be happy about the turn of events, so she kept silent and instead marveled at the weather. It was a gorgeous day; the sun was shining, the sky was a deep blue with puffy, white clouds and the temperature was supposed to be in the low seventies, a first since the end of the chilly winter.

After another fifteen minutes of silence, Erin spoke again, this time trying to make idle chit-chat with her daughter. "We're making great time; I can't believe how little traffic there is on the highway."

"Maybe it's because it's twelve-fifteen on a weekday," Katie said snidely.

"True, but it's still nice. Do you want to go for a hike when we get there?"

"Not with _you_," the teen said as though she would rather swim in a swamp full of alligators than go for a walk with her biological mother.

"How about we watch a movie? We could-" Katie interrupted the older woman's chatter.

"You know what, Erin? Don't. Don't pretend everything is fine, don't pretend we're just taking a mini-vacation and DON'T pretend that you give a shit about me! We both know how you really feel, so I don't know why you're even bothering with this."

Erin sighed, "Katie, whether you believe it or not, I really DO love you and I'm sorry you saw what I wrote many years ago; if I could, I would go back and slap that Erin upside the head, but I can't…I can't change what I wrote."

"No, you can't!"

"But what HAS changed are my feelings towards you."

"Yeah, right," Katie snorted. She saw that her mother was about to say something else, but whatever it was was cut off by the sound of crashing metal upon metal and the violent jerking of the car.

"Shit!" Erin exclaimed as she tried to regain control of the car; she glanced in the rear view mirror and saw the car coming up to hit her again and she accelerated. "Are you alright?" She asked her daughter. Katie nodded and was about to say something, but the car behind them accelerated, came up along side of them and sideswiped them. The teen screamed as the cars made impact and Erin struggled with her car but it careened off of the highway and into the woods.

Katie saw a large tree looming in front of them, heard a loud crash and then all she knew was darkness.


	33. Chapter 33

Family Ties-Chapter 33

**~Be sure to check out http :/ / fanfiction . net/topic/74868/48350094/1/ (remove the spaces) for information on the 2011 Profiler's Choice Awards!**

* * *

Katie gradually awoke to the sound of her biological mother's voice.

"Katie? Katie? Please wake up! Come on sweetie, open your eyes!" The voice was loud and annoying and she finally opened her eyes just to get her to shut up.

"Thank God," Erin said from her position in the driver's seat, relieved beyond words when her daughter's eyes finally opened. "Are you all right?" She asked.

Katie, who was still a little groggy from the crash, moaned as she took a quick inventory of herself; she was achy, her face felt like it had been cut and she _really _wanted to go back to sleep, but all of that was nothing compared to the pain in her right arm.

"My arm really hurts!" She said and Erin's heart nearly broke when she heard the unshed tears in her daughter's voice. She knew Katie was in pain and she was probably scared out of her mind and she wanted to help her, but first they had to get out of the car. She was just about to suggest to Katie that they leave the car when there was a beeping and then a voice filled the vehicle.

"This is Onstar, we detected this car was in a collision; is everyone all right?"

Erin, thankful she'd gotten a car that had the safety feature in it, shook her head. "No, my daughter is injured."

"I'll send help right away, ma'am."

"Thank you," Erin said and then disconnected the interface. "Can you get out of the car, honey?" She'd seen enough movies to know that wrecked cars sometimes caught fire and she wanted to be far away from this one if that happened.

Katie pushed at her door with her left hand and it popped open. As she got out, she heard Erin's door open and suddenly they were together outside of the wrecked car. She could tell her mother hadn't been left unscathed by the accident either; she had a large gash running down the side of her left cheek and she was limping heavily. They both began to make their way to each other but they were suddenly stopped by a commanding voice.

"Freeze!" Katie froze in her tracks at the sound of the commanding male voice. She slowly turned and faced the direction where the voice was coming from, as did Erin and the section chief was shocked by what she saw.

"Timothy?" She asked in disbelief. The man she'd once been married to had a gun in one hand and a taser in the other and both were trained on her and Katie. She stared at her ex-husband for a minute and then tore her eyes away and looked at her daughter.

Katie, who had been around guns all of her life, had never had one pointed at her before and she was more scared than she'd ever been in her life. She felt herself begin to shake violently and she couldn't stop it, it was as if she had no control over her body.

Erin saw the terror in her daughter's wide eyes and she knew she needed to do something to protect her. Without thinking, she reached for her sidearm and hit air on her hip. As the taser shot into her chest, she remembered that she'd left her sidearm in her purse, which was now sitting in the wreck of the car. That was her last coherent thought before she lost consciousness for the second time in ten minutes.

Katie, upon seeing her mother shot by the taser, was pulled from her fear and car accident induced stupor. She screamed and ran towards her, forgetting about the gun trained on her. As she knelt down beside the woman, she heard the man come up behind her and he suddenly grabbed her by the hair and put a rag over her face. After a few seconds, she joined her mother in unconsciousness.

xxxxxxxxxx

Dave had just hung up with his editor and he was mulling over the idea of visiting the vending machine for a chocolate fix, when he saw a couple of Strauss's employees enter Aaron's office. Seeing the section chief's underlings reminded him that his daughter and ex-lover were on their way to the cabin at that moment and he hoped things would go okay for them…hell, he hoped they made it there without Katie throwing one of her world-class tantrums because he knew from experience that those were horrible and they were even worse in the small confines of a car.

A knock on his office door pulled him from his thoughts. "Come in," he said as he reached into the top drawer of his desk and pulled out some change; he couldn't resist the siren call of the Snickers bar in the vending machine. When he looked up from his desk drawer, he saw his boss standing next to his desk and he had a pinched look on his face.

"What's up, Aaron? Why did Strauss's minions harass you _this _time?"

"Dave, Strauss's assistant Jane just got a call from an Onstar representative; apparently her car was involved in an accident on highway 89 less than an hour ago-"

"Oh God, is Katie alright?" Dave asked, jumping to his feet. Aaron knew about Katie's weekend with Erin, so Dave's reaction didn't surprise him.

"Well, that's the thing, there's no one there."

"What the hell are you talking about? Did the responders check the area? He asked as he pulled his cell phone from his belt. Without thinking, he pressed #1 and listened as the phone rang, and rang and rang. "Hi! You've reached Katie's voicemail. I can't answer-"

"Dammit!" He growled as he dialed Erin's number.

Aaron continued while Dave waited for their boss to answer her phone. "The windshield is still intact and both the driver's side door and the passenger door were open when the rescuers arrived. Strauss's gun and credentials are still in the car, as is Katie's book bag." What he didn't tell his friend was that both airbags had deployed and there were smears of blood on both of them.

"You've reached the voicemail for Section Chief-"

"Fuck!" Dave exclaimed as slammed the phone down and grabbed his gun and badge. "We have to get out to that scene, Aaron!" He could feel panic creeping up on him and he needed something to keep him grounded, otherwise he would go mad thinking about all of the different things that might have happened to his daughter.

The unit chief nodded, "Let's go."

xxxxxxxxxx

Derek Morgan broke every land speed record driving to the scene of Erin Strauss's car accident. He knew Dave's daughter had been in the car and they were all worried about what might have happened to them. As he whizzed down the highway, he prayed that the girl was okay because he knew Dave would never recover from losing her.

"There! There's the scene!" The older profiler pointed out needlessly. There was an ambulance, fire engine, and two cop cars parked on the shoulder of the highway and they all had their emergency lights on. Dave was out of the SUV before Derek had brought it to a complete stop.

"What have you found out so far?" He asked the man who looked like he was in charge.

"And you are?" The cop asked in an official tone.

Dave grabbed his creds from his pocket and snapped them in the LEO's face. "David Rossi," he barked. "Not only am I with the FBI, I'm also the father of the girl who was the passenger in this car.

"My apologies Agent Rossi," he said, standing up straighter.

"I don't want your apologies; I want to know what the fuck you've found so far!"

"Dave," Hotch said as he put his hand on the older profiler's shoulder, "You need to take a deep breath and calm down." The LEO understood how personal this was to the older man and he stepped away so they could have a moment of privacy.

"Calm down?" Dave asked as he swept his arm towards the accident scene. "Calm down? Would be calm if this was happening to Jack?" He asked and his boss could hear the hysteria in his voice. It had been bad enough when Dave had just imagined the accident scene but actually seeing it and knowing his daughter had been in the car and was now God knows where…well, that just made it so much worse.

"Believe me, I know what it's like to feel so helpless in this kind of situation," Hotch said, thinking back to when Foyet was in his living room with his family and he could do nothing to help them, "But I can't have an agent on the scene who's not thinking rationally; that won't help Katie _or _Strauss."

Dave took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "You're right Aaron, I'll keep it together somehow," he promised and he tried going into his detached profiler mode.

The sheriff, seeing the profilers were done talking, came back and began briefing them. "Onstar detected the crash at 12:19 pm and after speaking with the owner of the vehicle, they ascertained that one of the occupants of the vehicle had an injury so they dispatched a rescue team to this location. The owner of the vehicle, an Erin Strauss, then disconnected the call on her end. According to local dispatch, the ambulance arrived on scene at 12:31 pm and found the car deserted. The fire engine arrived at 12:32 pm and the teams from both apparatuses began searching the nearby woods and road for the car's occupants, but they came up empty handed. When I arrived, I also began searching but we did not find anyone. As soon as I found the FBI badge and gun, I called you folks."

"It's been over an hour since the crash was detected; what have your people found on the scene so far?" Hotch asked and the sheriff frowned.

"I run a very small, rural department sir, so it's just me and my deputy who have been looking over the crime scene. We haven't found much and, to be honest, I could use your help," he told them.

Hotch nodded, "We'll be glad to help however we can," he told the overwhelmed officer. The three men made their way to the car where the rest of the BAU team was investigating the scene.

"What've you got?" Dave asked in a barely controlled voice. He saw Reid pick something up and deposit it into an evidence bag and his stomach dropped when he saw what it was. "That's Katie's hair clip, I gave it to her for her birthday."

"It was found about three feet from the opened car door," Reid told him.

"What else have you found?" Hotch asked.

Morgan glanced at Dave momentarily before he began giving his report; he knew what he was about to say would be the older profiler's worst nightmare. "Obviously there have been numerous people walking around the scene," he said, gesturing towards all of the rescue personnel, "But the ground is muddy after the rain we had last night and we can differentiate the footprints. Among them is a set of small footprints that go from the passenger door to the back of the car."

"Katie's," Dave nodded, giving a small sigh of relief; at least she was uninjured enough to walk to the back of the vehicle.

Derek nodded and continued, "There is also a set of high-heeled footprints that go from the driver's side door to the back of the car. We believe these belong to Chief Strauss."

Reid cut in, "The car looks to have been struck from behind and then again sideswiped, which is what pushed it off of the road."

"So you think the accident was intentional?" Hotch asked, already knowing the answer.

Derek nodded and swallowed hard before speaking again, "That's not the worst of it," he said.

"What _is _the worst of it, Morgan?" Dave asked through clenched teeth.

"Look Rossi, I don't know if you want to be here for-" the older profiler interrupted him.

"That's my daughter you're talking about in your report so I'm not going anywhere! Just finish what you were about to tell us!" Dave could feel his fists tightening up and he wanted nothing more than to beat the crap out of something or someone, but he knew that wouldn't help him find his daughter, so he remained as calm as he could.

"We found two sets of drag marks originating from the back of Strauss's car and they end at another set of tire marks," he admitted.

"Jesus Christ, you think they were taken," Dave said softly and it wasn't really a question, as much as it was a statement of fact.

It was Emily who answered him, "We do, because we also found this," she held up an evidence bag that held a rag. "It was soaked in chloroform."

"Fuck," Hotch said quietly and Dave just looked at the cloth in horror. "Dave, are you okay? Dave? Dave!" It was the sharpness in Hotch's voice that finally brought Dave out of his shock.

"We don't know what this is yet; we don't know if this guy was targeting Erin and Katie just happened to get caught up in it, or if he's going after her kids, so we need to get Strauss's daughters," he said and then turned to JJ. "Have Erin's assistant contact the girl's schools and then arrange for agents to pick them up and bring them to the BAU."

"Yes sir," she said and then stepped away to make the call. The rest of the team went back to processing the crime scene, leaving Hotch and Dave standing by themselves.

"Can you do this, Dave?" Hotch asked quietly. "This is your daughter so technically you shouldn't-"

"I can do this Aaron, I HAVE to do this! If I just sit on this, I'll go crazy, you have to let me be involved!" Dave was practically begging at the end and Hotch, being a father, knew he would be doing the same thing if it was Jack who had been taken.

"Okay Dave, but the minute this becomes too much for you, you have to let me know, all right?"

"All right," he promised. The two of them joined the rest of the team as they combed through the vehicle.


	34. Chapter 34

Family Ties-Chapter 34

_~Warning: This chapter contains some violence against a minor in it. If that kind of thing bothers you, skip down to the part after the divide._

* * *

Erin slowly regained consciousness for the second time in less than four hours and she felt like she'd been hit by a semi-truck. Every muscle in her body ached and her head felt like it had a twelve piece band inside of it. Her memory was fuzzy but as soon as she heard soft crying coming from next to her, she remembered what had happened and she tried to stand up from her chair, but she couldn't, she was tied to it.

"Are you alright?" Katie asked from her position next to her. Erin turned her head and saw that the girl was also tied to a chair and tears were slowly falling down her cheeks.

"I'm sore, but I'm okay; how are you?" She asked, scared for her daughter's well being. It was one thing to hurt her, but when someone went after her daughter? Oh, Tim was going to pay for this!

"I'm-I'm really dizzy and-and m-my arm hurts really bad!" Erin could tell her daughter was terrified both by the way she stammered and the blatant fear in her voice.

"We're going to be okay honey, we'll get out of here," Erin tried reassuring her, but the teen wasn't having any of it.

"How? How are we going to get out of here? We're both tied up!"

"I don't exactly know how, but we _will_ be okay," Strauss said firmly. She looked around the room and saw they were in some sort of old building or garage. It was dimly lit via one bare light bulb and a few rays of sunshine seeping in through the cracks in the boards that were nailed over the windows. She wracked her brain as to why her husband would want to harm her and she couldn't think of any. Sure, the divorce hadn't been sunshine and lollipops but in the five years since they split, they hadn't had any real trouble with each other, just the occasional argument over custody. Why now? Why did he choose now to go crazy?

Her thoughts were cut off by what sounded like a garage door being manually opened behind them. They heard a few footsteps, then the door going back down and then suddenly Tim was standing in front of both of them.

"How are you, Erin?" He asked as he gently wiped the dried blood off of her forehead.

"I'm alright Tim, but Katie is injured."

The man gave the girl a contemptuous glance and said, "Too bad." He dipped the cloth into warm water and continued wiping his ex-wife's face.

"She needs medical attention, Timothy!" Erin said in her most commanding voice, hoping to get through to her husband; she had no idea why he was treating her so tenderly and she didn't care, her top concern was getting help for her daughter.

Timothy's face hardened and he slammed the bowl of water onto the table behind him. "I don't want to hear about this little bitch's problems!" He yelled and both women winced at his tone. "She can _die _for all I care! If it weren't for her, you and I would still be an 'us'!" With that, he viciously backhanded Katie across the face.

Katie, who hadn't been expecting the blow, reeled in her chair and tried to keep conscious. His blow had struck her on the left side of her face and it had caught part of her nose, which was now bleeding freely, but she was more stunned and sickened by the fact that this man had actually hit her! How much worse was it going to get for her?

With both her face and her arm in agonizing pain, the teen couldn't hold her tears back and the sound of her quiet sobs seemed to enrage the man even more. "Shut up!" He bellowed and drew his hand back to hit her again, when Erin spoke up.

"Tim wait!" She yelled, hoping he would stop his assault on her daughter. All she wanted to do was comfort and help her, but she forced herself to put Katie out of her mind for the moment and focus on her ex-husband. "Why are you doing this?"

Hearing his wife's voice, Tim dropped his hand and turned to face her. "Because I want us to be a family again; you, me, Allison, Clara and Ellen. We can do it, Erin, I know we can, we just need to be together without any distractions."

"What about Tiffany?" She asked, bringing up his fiancé.

"Tiffany has no place here," he said, "and neither does your bastard child. Don't you see Erin? Once this girl is out of the picture, we can go back to the way things were! We can be a happy family again and we can do it right here, with no one to intrude, no one to judge."

He was practically pleading at the end and Erin wanted to remind him that they were _never _a happy family; at best they tolerated each other, but things were never happy between them. In fact, it wasn't until he was out of the picture that she became close to her daughters. She kept this information to herself though, because she knew he'd snapped somehow and, in his fragile state of mind, any negative reminders of the past could worsen his psychological condition and cause him to take his anger out on Katie.

"Tim," she said gently, "I've built a life for myself without you and I don't know if I can just abandon it."

"You can do it Erin, you just need to get rid of the distractions in your life and this _child _here," he gestured to Katie. "All I ask is that you think about it, honey. Do it for me, do it for your daughters." With that, he kissed Erin on the head and left the small building via a side entrance, leaving her and Katie to ponder their fates.

xxxxxxxxxx

As the BAU team entered the bullpen, they got word that the Strauss girls had just arrived and would be on the sixth floor shortly. "What should we do with them?" Emily asked.

"Go with the two youngest up to the conference room and put Ellen in an interrogation room; I have a couple of questions for her," Dave said ominously.

"Do you really think she had something to do with this?" Reid asked while the women looked at Rossi like he was crazy.

"All I know is that she's hated Katie from the star,t so I wouldn't put it past her to have a hand in this."

"Okay, no, we are NOT going to let you interrogate a sixteen year old girl whose mother has just been, at best, kidnapped," JJ said firmly and the other two women nodded in agreement.

"Look JJ-" Dave began, but Emily cut him off.

"I'm with JJ on this one, Dave; no matter what has happened between her and Katie in the past, there is no way you're going to question her like she's an unsub."

"Dammit you two, she might know where Erin is…where _Katie_ is!"

"Dave," Garcia said gently. "I know this is killing you and, believe me, we all want to get Katie back for you, but deep down you know Ellen had nothing to do with this and raking that girl over the coals isn't going to bring Katie back any sooner."

Dave sighed and shook his head, "You're right," he practically whispered, "I just feel so helpless doing nothing."

"We're not going to just sit here and twiddle our thumbs Dave, we're going to work this case just like we do every other one, except this time we're going to work it much faster." Hotch didn't have to remind _any_ of his team members that the first twenty-four hours after a kidnapping were critical; after that, the odds of survival went way down.

Dave was about to respond back when the double doors of the BAU opened and three confused looking girls entered. Garcia and JJ immediately stood up and guided the group up to the conference room, while the rest of the team spoke with the agents who picked them up.

"Any problems on your way back here?" Hotch asked.

One of the young agents shook his head, "No, but they're wondering why we brought them here; I think they know something's up."

"You didn't tell them?" Emily asked incredulously; sure, it wasn't specifically in their orders to tell the kids what had happened, but they deserved to know why they'd been yanked out of school and brought to the BAU headquarters.

"No offense ma'am," one of the other agents said, "But there was no way in hell I was going to deal with three upset girls in the SUV on the drive from the middle of DC to Quantico; _that_ is not in my job description." He'd purposely avoided using the word 'hysterical' when referring to the girls because he knew the woman in front of him would have used him for target practice if he had, but Emily looked pissed off all the same.

Dave, who better understood the young agent's fears, just nodded and dismissed them. After they were gone, the rest of the team went up to the conference room. As soon as they entered, the girls started peppering them with questions. "Why were we brought here?" Ellen demanded, sounding very much like her mother.

"Where's our mom?" Clara asked.

"I'm scared," Allison said with a trembling lower lip and Ellen lifted her out of her chair and into her lap, where she wrapped her arms around her.

Dave sat down across from the girls and the rest of the team filled in around him. "Girls, I'm David Rossi and I work for your mother."

"We know who you are," Ellen said with a glare.

"This is my boss, Aaron Hotchner, Emily Prentiss, Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid and I'm sure you know JJ and Penelope by now."

"Where is our mother, Mr. Rossi?" Clara asked softly, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

Dave briefed the girls on what had happened, from the accident to the second set of tire marks. He let them know their mother and sister had probably been abducted but he left out the part about the drag marks and the splotches of blood found in the car.

"Will you…will you get her back?" Clara asked as both of her sisters sat in a stunned silence. Ellen, in particular, knew how bad the situation was and she was trying not to break down in front of her little sisters.

"We'll get both of them back," he said firmly. "I promise." Inside, he fervently prayed that he would be able to keep that promise, both for their sakes and his.

Hotch stood up and said, "We're going to get back to work; why don't you stay here Dave?" It wasn't so much a suggestion as it was a veiled order. He knew Dave was probably the closest thing to a relative that the Strauss girls had at the moment and he also knew that unless the team needed specific information from him, he would be more of a hindrance in the investigation at this point. The rest of the profilers and Garcia left the room, but JJ stayed, just in case Dave ran into a situation he couldn't handle on his own.

There was silence for five minutes, save for the girl's quiet crying, and then Allison finally spoke up, "I'm thirsty," she said shyly as she wiped her face. JJ offered her some water and she jumped off of her sister's lap and followed JJ to the small fridge in the corner of the room. She got her bottle of water, took a large drink and made her way back to the table. Instead of going back to Ellen, she approached Dave and stopped in front of him.

"Are you Katie's daddy?" She asked with huge eyes.

Dave gave her a gentle smile; it was easy to see why Katie had fallen in love with her so quickly, she was an adorable little girl. "I sure am, sweetheart."

"She's really nice! She gived me stickers, and she played Barbies with me and Clara and she readed us a story!" She smiled at the thought of her sister and then it faded when she remembered she was somewhere with her mommy and a bad man. "You're going to find my mommy soon, right? Because I really miss her…her and Katie both. We haven't seen Katie in _forever_, but maybe she'll come over once she's back."

Dave swallowed hard and blinked his eyes a couple of times to clear them. "We'll find both of them soon, honey."

"You don't KNOW that!" Ellen said loudly. "You don't know who took them, where they are or even if they're okay, so don't you _dare_ promise us ANYTHING!" Ellen sat back in her seat, crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Dave.

Dave felt his temper bubble dangerously close to the surface. "Do me a favor JJ? Take Clara and Allison down to the cafeteria for a snack, I want to have a word with Ellen."

JJ looked from the profiler to the teenage girl and finally decided that Dave wouldn't actually kill her so she held out her hands to both of the younger girls and they got up and followed her out the door. When Ellen and Dave were finally alone, they stared at each other for a minute, as if sizing the other up.

"Why do you hate my daughter so much?" Dave finally asked.

Ellen, surprised by the bluntness of the question, didn't beat around the bush. "Because she ruined my life!"

"No she didn't," Dave responded calmly but that seemed to fuel Ellen's anger even more.

"Yes she DID!" She screeched. "Nothing was ever the same after mom left for that year! She spent a year away from us and when she came back all she and dad did was fight! God, even after Clara and Allie were born, mom and dad barely tolerated each other! They threw themselves into their work so they wouldn't have to see each other but they forgot that they never saw US either! And then mom and dad finally split and now dad doesn't even see us anymore! I think I've seen him twice in the five years since they got divorced!"

"That wasn't Katie's fault, your parents were having problems before your mom was even pregnant with her," Dave said.

"Well you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" The teen asked snidely and continued before he could say anything in his defense. "As soon as dad moved to California, Clara started getting sicker and mom, when she wasn't working, devoted all of her time and energy to her! It got to the point where I barely saw mom unless it was at the hospital when Clara was sick. And then finally she got her bone marrow transplant and I thought mom would finally have some time for me and what does she do? She finds her long lost daughter, the one who caused all of this, and she spends all of her spare time with HER!"

"Hey!" Dave said loudly, "Katie didn't ask for this! Your mom sought _her _out to donate marrow to Clara, not the other way around! If it were up to both her _and _I, this never would've happened!"

"I know that!" Ellen practically screamed. "Not only was Katie mom's long lost daughter, but she rode in and saved the day; she did what I couldn't do! It should have been ME who donated my marrow to save Clara and it should've been ME that mom was so proud of but instead it was total stranger who mom took under her wing! Why am I never good enough for her? Why can't she ever spend time with me? I know Katie didn't ruin anything, but it was easy to blame her, instead of facing up to the fact that my mother wishes I was someone different!" By the end of her tirade, Ellen was sobbing and despite his earlier anger towards the girl, he began feeling sorry for her.

"And now mom's gone and we'll be all alone! God knows dad isn't going to want to bother with us and-"

"Hey," Dave interrupted as he reached across the table and took one of her hands into his. "No matter what happens, you girls will NEVER be alone. Like it or not, you're Katie's family now, which makes you a part of my family and I _never_ abandon my family, no matter what they've done in the past. We _will _find your mother, Ellen, but until then, you're stuck with me. Capisce?"

Ellen just nodded through her tears, unable to say anything, and Dave let her cry as he silently held her hand.


	35. Chapter 35

Family Ties-Chapter 35

**~There's more violence against Katie in this chapter so if that disturbs you, skip the part until the divide.**

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Erin couldn't remember a time when she felt as helpless as she did now. Watching her ex-husband strike her daughter had made her nearly crazy with anger and listening to Katie's crying was ripping her heart in two. She wished there was something she could do to help her, but she was tied tightly to her chair.

"Katie, are you all right?" She asked, feeling like an idiot; of course she wasn't alright, she'd just been in a car accident, drugged, tied to a chair, screamed at and struck. At best she was still conscious, but Erin needed to know that she could at least speak. She worried when she didn't receive an answer; while they weren't facing each other, if she turned her head enough Erin could see her daughter and she saw that her head was tilted forward, which scared her.

"Katie, I need an answer," she said and she could hear the hysteria entering her voice.

Katie tilted her head up, "No, I'm _not_ okay!" She said loudly through her crying. "I'm bleeding, I'm dizzy, I feel like I'm going to throw up, my arm hurts and I want to go home!" She was sobbing by the end of her tirade and Erin wished she could wrap her arms around her and comfort her, but she couldn't.

"It's going to be okay, Katie," Erin said with a confidence she didn't feel but Katie didn't buy it.

"No, it's NOT!" She yelled as her crying grew even more intense. "He wants me out of the picture! He's probably going to kill me! And if he doesn't, he'll keep hurting me until I wish I was dead."

"No he _won't_!" Erin said firmly and she fervently prayed she was right. The truth was, it didn't take a profiler to see that Timothy had gone around the bend and God only knew what he might do to them, Katie in particular.

The teen didn't answer her birth mother; she just continued to cry, albeit a bit quieter. Finally, after half an hour, her tears tapered off. "You should have gotten rid of me when you had the chance," she said quietly through her sniffles.

"What did you say?" Erin asked, wondering if she'd misheard the girl.

"You should have just stuck to your original plan and aborted me when you found out you were pregnant. Ellen was right, if it wasn't for me, none of this would've happened, all of you would've been happy."

"Don't you EVER say _anything _like that again, do you understand me?" Erin said, the anger evident in her voice and Katie was taken aback by her mother's tone.

"But-" She tried defending her statement, but Erin wouldn't let her.

"My thoughts of aborting you were a terrible mistake and I realize that now," she said sternly. "My God, Katie, your father would've been devastated if I hadn't had you, as would your mother. And how about Clara?" She asked. "She would be dead right now if it weren't for you! And this isn't your fault, none of it is! Tim and I were having problems LONG before you entered the picture and now…I don't know what happened to him but he's clearly lost his mind and-"

"Lost my mind, have I?" A masculine voice asked from behind them.

"Timothy, how long have you been standing there?" Erin asked as the man came into her line of sight.

"Long enough to hear that you think I've gone crazy," he said tightly. "But let me tell you, Erin, I'm thinking clearly for the first time in years. I finally know what I want; I want you and the girls back! I want to be a proper father to them, I want to get to know Allison and I want to reconnect with Clara and Ellen. And you! I want to be a loving husband towards you! We were good together Erin and we can be that way again if you give me a chance."

Now Erin was sure her ex had a few screws loose; they had NEVER been good together; at best they had co-existed and at worst they had fights that had shaken the roof rafters. And what was all of that about the kids? He'd been an absent father before they'd divorced and he had gotten worse afterwards. No, something had happened to make him snap.

"Timothy," she said carefully, "You and I were never happy together, we just don't work together. You know that."

"Don't SAY that!" He shouted. "We _can _work together, I know we can! I am NOT crazy!" Towards the end of his rant, he got a scary look on his face and Katie was afraid he would hit one of them again, so she tried to distract him.

"Um, I have to go to the bathroom," she said quietly.

"What?" The man snapped as he turned towards her with a maniacal look on his face.

"I...I have to use the bathroom," she whispered, wishing she hadn't said anything.

Tim just stared at her as he pondered what she'd said. "Tim, you have to let her use the restroom, you can't expect her to hold it indefinitely."

"Fine," he snarled as he walked over to a large table. He picked up his gun, shoved it in the back of his jeans and walked back to Katie. He untied her and then pointed the gun at her, "If you try anything stupid, I'll shoot you, but I won't kill you and then you'll be able to think about _that _pain while you're here."

Katie, who was almost frozen in terror, just nodded. He grabbed her left arm and dragged her across the room to a small bathroom. "You have two minutes," he said as he shoved her in.

The teen shut the door behind her and quickly used the toilet. Once that was done, she washed up and then stared at her face in the mirror. She had small cuts on her forehead, probably from where the glass from the car had hit her, and she had a black eye and bruised cheek from where Tim had hit her earlier, not to mention the dried blood from her nose. All in all, she looked terrible.

She figured she had a few more seconds left, so she cupped her hand and took a large drink of water. Once that was done, she tried wiping some of the dried blood off of her face, but she didn't get very far before the door was shoved open.

"Time's up," Tim said as he grabbed her arm and began dragging her back to the chair. Unfortunately he'd grabbed her right arm which had been injured in the crash so she was in a considerable amount of pain when they got back to her chair.

"Please don't tie me back up, my arm hurts really bad!" She begged, but it had no effect on the man. He ruthlessly grabbed both of her arms and jerked them behind her so he could tie her tighter to the chair and she screamed in pain.

"Dammit Timothy, be careful with her!" Erin shouted, her heart breaking a little with each of Katie's screams.

He finished tying the teen to the chair and then stood in front of his ex-wife. "Do NOT yell at me, Erin," he said coldly. "I give the orders around here now, _not_ you." He left Erin and walked towards the back of the room. "I'll leave you now so you can ponder just how crazy I am, because maybe I _am _crazy and maybe I'm just crazy enough to leave the two of you to starve to death, or dehydrate until you die." With that he walked out the door, leaving Katie and Erin alone with that new fear.

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Dave was going insane just sitting in his office; he needed to be _doing _something but all he could do was sit there and worry about his daughter. He'd left the Strauss girls in JJ's capable hands once he'd calmed Ellen down and now he kind of wished he'd stayed with them, if only to distract him from imagining the horrible things that could be happening to his daughter. He knew it had only been a few hours since the kidnapping, but he also knew if they didn't find her soon, he would lose his mind.

He looked up from his desk when he saw Reid pass by on his way to Hotch's office, Derek and Emily soon followed.

"What did you find?" Hotch asked the three of them and he pretended not to see Dave slip in behind them.

"I had Garcia check to see if any of Dave or Erin's enemies had been released or escaped from prison recently and there was nothing. Then I talked to Strauss's housekeeper, office staff and friends and none of them could think of anyone who would do this to her and they all came up clean in Garcia's background checks," Derek said.

"I visited Katie's school and talked to all of her friends and teachers and I hit a dead end there as well. Katie might not run in the popular crowd, but she's pretty well liked and no one could think of anyone who would want to hurt her. Garcia also checked her online footprint and nothing came up hinky in her emails or her internet history," Emily told him.

"Any luck with her diary, Reid?" Hotch asked and the genius shook his head.

"There's nothing out of the ordinary in here; she pretty much talks about her friends, the boys she likes and her life with Rossi. Nothing jumped out as a red flag." The team was trying to build a profile of the unsub but in situations like this, where time was critical, it was usually easier to profile the victims. As soon as the team had arrived back at Quantico, Dave had tossed his house keys to Reid and told him where to find both Katie's computer (in the living room) and her diary (hidden underneath a chick lit book cover in her bookcase). He knew she would be pissed as hell if she…_when_ she got home, but it was a price he was willing to pay for getting her back.

"Dammit, we're missing _something_!" Dave said loudly and the three younger profilers spun around to look at him.

"I know we are, Rossi, I just don't know what it is," Derek told him.

As if she was psychic, Garcia entered Hotch's office at that precise moment with news. "Okay, so I just finished combing through all of Strauss's email, and let me tell you, that woman saves _everything_, and I found something interesting."

"What did you find, Penelope?" Hotch asked, trying to speed her up.

"Her ex-husband emailed her to let her know that he'd broken up with his fiancé. While he didn't come right out and say it, he sounded as though he wanted to get back together with our lovely Section Chief."

"Okay Garcia, work your magic and get us all the information you can on Timothy Strauss, starting with-" The tech Goddess interrupted her boss.

"I'm sorry sir, but I am WAY ahead of you," she said. "I went spelunking in Mr. Strauss's records and guess what I found? It seems he was recently fired from his law firm for 'unprofessional conduct.' Not only that, when I dug a little deeper into his personal life, I learned that his fiancé dumped him, not the other way around-"

"Okay," Dave said, glad to finally have some information, "We need to know if he's in the area-"

"My apologies sir, but I wasn't finished yet," Garcia said, a little miffed at the constant interruptions. "I called his home and cell phones and there was no answer and _then_ I learned that Mr. Strauss was a passenger on an airplane recently. Wanna guess where he landed?"

"Reagan?" Dave said, hoping against hope that the dirt bag was somewhere nearby .

"Close," Garcia said, "He actually landed in Baltimore five days ago. He rented a white van from the airport rent-a-car and from there, the trail goes cold. I checked all of the property records in the tri-state area and the only thing registered to either him or Erin is the house in DC and that's been searched."

"But he's here," Dave said as he resisted the urge to kiss the woman. "That's more than we knew before!"

"The loss of his job, coupled with his fiancé breaking up with him could have been the stressor for him," Derek said, directing his assessment at Hotch.

The unit chief thought for a moment and then nodded, "I agree, the problem is we don't know where he is."

"Maybe one of the Strauss girls knows where he could be," Emily suggested as they all looked across the bullpen and into the conference room where the girls were holed up.

"I'll go talk to Ellen," Dave said and then he left the office and made his way to the conference room. Once there, he pulled Ellen into the hallway so he could talk to her.

"Ellen," he said gently, "There's a chance your father could be involved in this, has he been acting strange lately?"

The teen snorted, "Who knows? I haven't talked to him in months…we're not exactly close." She thought for a moment, "Do you really think he could have done this?"

"I'm not sure," Dave lied, "But right now he's our best lead."

"God, this just keeps getting more fucked up as the day goes on, doesn't it?" She asked shaking her head.

Dave wanted to rebuke her for her language choice, but he realized she was spot on in her analysis, so he let it slide. "We think he's in town, or at least nearby. Do you know where he would go if he didn't want to be found?"

Ellen shook her head, "I have no idea," she said as she thought about it.

"Okay, it was worth a try. Do you know if he knows about Katie?"

The teen nodded, "Mom told him about her before she donated the marrow, she didn't want dad to be surprised by it later, so she called him after she told us. The bastard wouldn't even come to DC for the transplant."

Dave shook his head; what kind of father did these girls have? "Thanks Ellen, you should probably get back to your sisters."

"Okay," she agreed and moved towards the conference room. She was just about to enter it when she remembered something. "Wait!" She said as she spun back around to face the older agent. "The house on the river!"

"What?" Dave asked in confusion.

"My grandpa Erickson, my mom's dad, owned a cabin on the Potomac River; we went there a couple of times when we were kids. When he died he left it to her but she was always too busy to go."

"Do you know where the cabin is?" Dave asked and gave a sigh of relief when she nodded.

"It's about an hour from here, right on the edge of the Caledon State Park. It's really secluded there but if you give me a map, I can show you where it is."

"I'm going to sit you down with Penelope and you can show her on the computer, okay?" Dave asked as his excitement built up.

"Sure," she said as they crossed the bullpen and went up to Hotch's office. Less than ten minutes later they had the location and were ready to go.

As the team moved towards the elevators, Hotch pulled Dave aside. "Maybe you should stay here," he said and watched as the older man's face predictably clouded in anger.

"Aaron, you may be my best friend and boss, but if you make me stay here I'll shoot you with your own gun. That's my _daughter_ we're going to rescue and there is no WAY I'm staying behind!"

"Okay, okay," Hotch said, holding his hands out in front of him. "It was just a suggestion!"

"It was a _stupid_ suggestion," Dave grumbled. The rest of his tirade was cut off as the elevator arrived. As they all piled into it, Dave began to pray they were on the right track, that they would get to Katie and Erin before it was too late.


	36. Chapter 36

Family Ties-Chapter 36

**~Again, more violence towards Katie in this chapter.**

* * *

Katie wasn't sure how much time had passed since their kidnapper had left them; 10 minutes? An hour? A day? She was only aware of the pain in her arm and the fear that was coursing through her body. How would they get out of here alive? Did anyone even know they were missing? They were supposed to be on their way to the cabin, would her dad begin to wonder when neither of them called? If so, that could take hours and by then it might be too late…at least for her.

Why did Erin's family hate her so much? She had never figured out what Ellen's problem was, other than she seemed to be a nasty, jealous bitch, and now this guy was blaming her for the same thing. Was she really that much of a home wrecker? Did her very existence really break up the Strauss family? Even if it did, was it her fault? She didn't ask for Erin and her dad to sleep together and she didn't ask to be born and she sure as _hell_ didn't ask for Clara to get sick, so how was this her fault exactly? Maybe Ellen and her father should take their heads out of their own asses for once and realize that if Erin had to go to all of the trouble of hiding her pregnancy, maybe their family's foundation hadn't been on solid footing to begin with. As she contemplated the situation a bit more, she felt her sadness and guilt turn to anger. She would be damned if she let them blame her for things that were _well _beyond her control.

Erin, who had also been pondering their predicament, didn't know which was worse, Katie's crying or the complete silence she was getting from the girl. While she didn't want her scared or in pain, at least when she was crying she knew she was conscious. She decided to speak up, if only to hear her daughter's voice.

"We'll get out of here Katie, somehow we'll make it out," she promised. She expected her daughter to snap at her again, but instead she heard her take a deep breath.

"Do you really love me like I'm one of your daughters?" She asked quietly. "That night at the cabin, you said you couldn't imagine your life without me in it; did you mean that or were you trying to get my dad off of your case?"

Surprised by the change in subject, Erin knew this was probably her one opportunity to have her daughter's undivided attention on the topic. "I meant every word I said. I really _can't _image not having you in my life and I don't love you _like_ you're one of my daughters; you _are _one of my daughters and I love you as much as I do Clara, Allie and Ellen." She heard Katie sniffling but she pressed on. "I was terrified when I was pregnant with you…I was terrified, confused and emotional and that's why I wrote what I did, but writing those words was a horrible mistake. You keep a diary, don't you?"

"Yeah," Katie responded, allowing herself to hope that maybe, just _maybe _her mother actually _did_ want her.

"Haven't you ever written something in it that you later regretted?" After her bathroom excursion, Katie's chair had been moved more into her line of sight and she saw her daughter nod. "Well that's what happened to me; I wasn't thinking clearly when I wrote all of that and I regret it more than you can possibly imagine."

"You promise? You're not just saying that because we might d-die here?" Katie asked.

"I promise, Katie. I love you and when we get out of here I hope you'll give me another chance."

The teen was about to answer, but a slow applause from the back of the room stopped her. "Now that was a touching moment; too bad it was all for naught. There is _no _room in our new life for another child, especially one that was fathered by another man," Timothy said as he stepped in front of them.

"You can't ask me to choose between my daughters Tim," Erin told him, wondering if she could actually get him to see reason. A look of anger came over his face and she knew she had, in fact, made it worse.

"This girl is NOT your DAUGHTER!" He screamed and then smacked Katie across the face. This time she had kind of been expecting it, so she was able to brace herself but it still hurt like hell. "Your daughters…OUR DAUGHTERS are waiting for us to come get them and believe me Erin, I WILL get them, with or without you. It's your choice."

"Tim, you can't-" Erin started, but the irate man interrupted her.

"The hell I can't, Erin!" He said as he struck Katie again and this time her chair toppled over and she was laying on her right side, facing the two of them. She was still tied to her chair and her arm was screaming in pain and she wished she could just pass out. "We WILL be a family, Goddammit!" He raised his hand to hit Katie again when Erin shouted, "OKAY!"

The crazy man lowered his hand and asked, "Okay what?"

"Okay, I will do anything you ask me to, just please stop hurting her!" Erin begged as tears coursed down her face.

"Anything?"

"Anything," she affirmed.

"Okay then," Tim said as a smile came over his face. "Come back to me. We can go get the girls, come back here and finally be a real family again."

"Alright," Erin agreed; she would do anything if it meant he would stop hurting her daughter; she just hoped Katie knew she was stalling for time.

"You mean it?" He said as his face lit up. "You'll come back to me?"

"Of course," she lied as he untied her. "I never say things I don't mean." Tim pulled her to her feet and gave her a loving kiss.

"All right, sweetheart," he said. "There's just one last thing you have to do before we go get the girls."

"What's that, Tim?" She asked in what she hoped was a loving tone.

"You need to get rid of this one," he said, gesturing at Katie.

"What do you mean?" The woman whispered, knowing exactly what he meant.

"I _mean, _you have to kill her; it's the only way we can get a fresh start as a family." When she heard this, Katie started crying softly; while she was fairly certain her mother wouldn't actually kill her, she knew her ex-husband would and she knew her time was coming to an end.

"I can't kill her, Tim!" Erin said, aghast that he would even suggest such a thing.

"Yes you can Erin, you can if you really care about our family!" He told her.

"I _do_ care about our family but you can't ask me to choose our other daughters over Katie!"

"Yes I can," he said as he pointed the gun at her. "Now do it!"

"I won't," Erin said defiantly.

Tim put the gun up against her forehead, "Goddammit Erin, kill that fucking girl right now!"

"No," she simply said. Katie had been watching their exchange in fear and she both saw and heard Timothy Strauss cock the gun that was against Erin's head and she was no longer able to stay silent.

"NO!" She yelled, hoping to stop whatever was about to happen to her biological mother. As soon as the shriek was out of her mouth, Tim swung the gun around and pointed it at her. Erin could tell he was about to pull the trigger and she jumped in front of her daughter just as she heard the sound of the gunshot.


	37. Chapter 37

Family Ties-Chapter 37

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While Timothy Strauss was tormenting both Katie and Erin, the BAU team was speeding towards the beach house and Hotch was pretty Derek was breaking some land speed records with his driving. The countryside went by in a blur and the only sound in the crowded SUV was Dave's mumbled prayers. As they got closer to the site, Hotch began giving directions to his team.

"We are going to do this calmly and rationally," he said with a pointed look at Dave. "We're still not one hundred percent sure that Timothy Strauss is our unsub, so we are going to approach the front door like we normally would."

"Come on Aaron, we _know _it's Tim Strauss, why all of the formal bullshit?" Dave asked, ready to go into the house with a machine gun if that's what it took to get his daughter back.

"We _don't _know it's Erin's ex-husband who kidnapped them and until we're sure, we do this by the book; we wait for backup, which is only two minutes behind us, and then we go in calmly. If you can't go along with that, you'll have to stay in the car, Dave." Hotch said firmly.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure _that's _not going to happen," Dave muttered. He tried to follow his boss's orders, really he did, but as soon as the team reached the property and stepped out of the car, they heard a scream and a gunshot and all bets were off. The six of them ran to the detached garage and burst in through the side entrance, guns drawn.

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For Katie, it was as if the previous five seconds had happened in slow-motion. She saw Timothy Strauss turn and point the gun at her, she saw her biological mother jump in front of her, she heard a gunshot and then she saw her mother hit the floor as a red stain started to spread across her blouse.

"NO!" She screamed. "MOM!" She was so worried about her mother that she missed the fact that Tim was now turning his aim on her, but thankfully the members of the BAU, who had just entered the back of the room, hadn't. The six of them simultaneously assessed the scene. They saw their boss lying on the ground with a gunshot wound, they saw Katie lying on the ground near her and they saw a madman pointing his gun at the teen. It took them all of about half a second to draw their side arms and open fire. Timothy Strauss went down in a hail of gunfire before he had a chance to hurt the teen any further.

Katie heard someone call out her name, but she was too focused on her mother to pay any attention to anything else. She felt the rope around her ankles and arms become slack and she quickly pulled away from the chair and scurried over to her mother, who was barely conscious.

"MOM! Mom, please be okay, please don't die!" She begged through her tears as she knelt at her mother's side. She could see the blood spreading across her chest and she knew it wasn't good. "Mom, PLEASE!" She cried as she gripped her hand.

Erin, who was on the verge of losing consciousness, forced her eyes open. She looked at the bruised and battered face of her daughter and gave a weak smile. "Katie, you're alive."

The teen nodded, "I am mom, you saved my life!"

"I'm glad you're okay, I would do anything for you. Always remember that I love you Katie," she said just before she lost consciousness.

"I love you too mom!" She cried. "Come on mom, hang on!" Suddenly there were uniformed men at her mother's side and they began working on her. They tried pushing her to the side, but Katie wouldn't let go of her mother's hand. Finally, strong arms gripped her around the waist and pulled her back from her mother. She began fighting them until she heard the voice they were attached to.

"Come on Katie Belle, you need to let the paramedics work on her." The use of her nickname pulled Katie out of her haze.

"Dad?" She asked incredulously as she spun around on her knees. Kneeling behind her was her father and he as if he was barely keeping it together. The world started to spin for her and she leaned into his embrace and, as she felt his arms wrap around her, she knew she was finally safe.

The rest of the team was scattered around the room processing the scene but they all paused for a second as they saw one of the strongest men they knew fall apart as he held his daughter. They all knew if they had arrived just five seconds later, Katie would've probably been killed and they knew Dave never would've recovered from that.

Dave and Katie stayed like that for a few minutes; Dave held her tight against his chest as Erin was taken out on the stretcher and he suddenly heard her cry out in pain.

"What? What is it Belle?" He asked as he released her. He watched as she winced and cradled her right arm against her body.

"My arm, I think I hurt it in the car accident," she told him in a pained voice and Dave felt like an idiot. He was so concerned about his reunion with her that he'd totally forgotten that she'd been in a car accident less than ten hours previously, not to mention she looked pretty banged up from her ordeal in the garage.

He waved his boss over, "Hotch, we need another ambulance; Katie's hurt."

"No, can't we just go to the doctor in the SUV?" She pleaded, her hatred of hospitals and all things medical at the forefront of her mind.

"Sweetie, it's nine o'clock at night, the doctor's office isn't open," her dad told her.

Katie wrinkled her face in confusion, "It's that late?" To her it felt like it should've been about four o'clock, but once she looked around, she noticed it had gotten much darker in the garage.

"There's another ambulance on standby outside, I'll have them come in," Hotch said and then gave the teen a soft smile. "I'm glad you're alright, Katie."

"Thanks Aaron, me too," she told him. She watched as he said something into his wrist communicator and then suddenly she was surrounded by paramedics.

"Hi Katie, my name is Becky and I'm a paramedic. Can you tell me what hurts?"

"Um, my arm has been hurting really bad since the car accident, and I just kind of ache all over from being tied to the chair for so long," she said, grateful that her dad was still next to her.

"Okay," the paramedic said, "What about all of this?" She asked, indicating her face.

"I think the cuts are from the broken glass in the car and the bruises and bloody nose? Well, Timothy hit me a couple of times…" In that instant, Dave wished Timothy Strauss was still alive so he could kill him with his bare hands. He HIT his daughter? He hoped the son of a bitch was rotting in hell where he belonged.

"Did he do anything else to you?" Becky asked gently as she probed her face. "Anything bad?"

It took Katie a moment to figure out what she was asking, but once she felt her dad's grip tighten around her hand, it dawned on her what the woman wanted to know. "Rape? No, he didn't rape me or touch me like that." she said and her dad's grip relaxed.

"Okay," Becky said as another paramedic gently splinted her injured arm. "We're going to transport you to Georgetown University Hospital because that's where your mom is going and they also have a specialized pediatric ER."

"Do I _have_ to go?" Katie whined, which brought a smile to Dave's face; even though she was whining, he was glad that she was acting normally. "Can't you just fix me up here?"

The paramedic shook her head, "You're going to need some x-rays and maybe a couple of stitches and I can't do that here," she said.

"Fine," she sighed, "Can my dad come with me?" She asked, not wanting to be alone with more strangers.

"Definitely," Becky said as she motioned for her crew to bring the stretcher into the garage.

Dave stepped back as the paramedics loaded Katie onto the cot. "Someone needs to update Garcia," he said to his boss. "You know, before we have to pry her off of the ceiling."

"Derek called her and let her know what happened," Hotch said with a wry smile. "She said to tell you that she'll bring a change of clothes to the hospital for Katie."

"Good," Dave said and then rubbed his eyes with his fingers. "We were almost too late, Aaron."

"But we got here in time, so don't let thoughts of 'what if' take over your mind, at least not tonight; Katie's going to need you to be strong tonight," Hotch told him, knowing from experience that the 'what if' thoughts would hit him nightly.

"You're right, thanks," he said and then went back to his daughter. He took her hand in his and didn't let go until they arrived at the ER.


	38. Chapter 38

Family Ties-Chapter 38

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Ninety minutes later, Dave and Katie were waiting in her little ER room for the doctor to update them about her injuries. Almost as soon as she'd arrived, the young doctor had come in and examined her and ordered x-rays for her arm, face and ribs. Dave hadn't realized her ribs were bothering her, but upon her initial exam, she'd cried out in pain when the doctor touched the right side of her body, so they'd added that to the list of her possible injuries.

As he sat with her, Dave was surprised at how calm she was; considering all that had happened to her and all she had seen that day, he expected her to be an emotional mess but she hadn't cried once since they'd arrived at the hospital, not even after the x-ray techs had to manipulate her injured arm to get decent pictures.

Her lack of emotional response worried him though. While he didn't want her to be scared and sad, he knew she was pushing her emotions into a large box in her head and he also knew from experience that the box would eventually break and she would be engulfed in memories and feelings about her experience and he wanted that to happen in a safe and comfortable environment.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door as the doctor re-entered the room. "How are you feeling, Katie?" He asked as he put her x-rays on the light box.

"Sore and tired. What did you give me in that thing?" She asked, pointing to her IV.

"Nothing yet," he responded. "All we did was run some saline through you in order to rehydrate you; you were without water for nearly ten hours."

"So why am I so sleepy?" She asked through a yawn.

"Probably because it's almost eleven o'clock and you've had a rough day," the doctor answered with a slight smile on his lips.

"How is she, Doc?" Dave asked worriedly; she looked terrible and he was worried there was more wrong with her than was outwardly visible. The doctor's next words took some of that worry away.

"All things considered, she's doing very well," the doctor said. "There is no evidence of any internal injuries from the car accident or the beating she took." Dave clenched his teeth when he thought of someone hitting his little girl and he wished Timothy Strauss was still alive so he could kill him again.

"Her face, while bruised and lacerated, has no serious injuries to it. Based on the large bruise on her left cheek, I was worried about a fracture to the zygomatic bone, or cheekbone, but it appears to be just badly bruised. The lacerations, while numerous, are not very deep and do not require sutures; just put Neosporin on them and they should heal with minimal scarring."

"What about my arm?" Katie asked. "It's not broken, is it? Because I _really _don't want a cast!"

The doctor shook his head, "Sorry Katie, you have a hairline fracture to your ulna."

"Crap!" She exclaimed and her father squeezed her good hand in sympathy.

"I know, but you'll only have to wear the cast for six weeks or so-" Katie interrupted the doctor with a shriek.

"Six _weeks_? No way, uh uh," she said and if she could have, she would've crossed her arms over her chest.

"Katie," Dave said in a tone that left no room for argument, "You're going to do exactly what the doctor tells you, capisce?"

Katie, having heard that tone numerous times in her thirteen years on the planet, knew he wasn't going to budge. "Fine," she huffed, "I'll wear the stupid cast but it's not fair!"

The doctor smiled at their exchange and continued, "As I was saying, you'll have to wear the cast for the next six weeks, but you'll be able to pick out what color you want."

"Yippee," the teen said sarcastically and the doctor chuckled.

"Upon reviewing your x-rays, it also seems as though you have two cracked ribs on you right side. My guess is you sustained these injuries when the chair you were tied to was knocked over."

"So what do we do for those?" Katie asked. "How do you put a cast on my ribs?"

"We don't," the doctor told her, "You'll just have to take it easy while they heal."

"Okay," she said, anxious to get up to the surgical waiting room so she could find out about her mother. "Can I go then? I mean, after I get my stupid cast?"

The doctor shook his head, "I'd like to admit you for the night, just in case there are other injuries that we're not seeing-"

"No!" Katie interrupted and there was barely concealed hysteria in her voice. "No, I _really _don't want to stay here tonight!" She turned to her dad and flashed him her puppy dog eyes, eyes which now had unshed tears standing in them. "Please dad, don't make me stay, I wanna go up and see how Erin is doing, I _don't _want to stay overnight, I feel fine! Please don't make me stay, PLEASE!" By the end she was distraught and begging and Dave felt himself wavering.

"Is it really necessary for her to stay overnight?" He asked and the doctor shrugged.

"I suggested it as a 'better safe than sorry' action but if she feels that strongly about it, there shouldn't be any harm if you take her home tonight. Just make sure to keep an eye on her for the next few days."

"Okay, I think I'll take her home then," he said and he saw Katie visibly relax.

"That's fine, I'll send someone in to do the casting and there are some forms you'll need to fill out, but I can probably have you out of here in an hour or so."

"Great, thanks doc," Dave said as the young doctor's pager began beeping.

The doctor nodded and left the room. "I have some conditions for taking you home tonight," Dave told his daughter and Katie mentally groaned; she knew it had been waaaaayyyy too easy to convince him to not make her spend the night in the hospital.

"Okay," she said cautiously.

"First, after we leave the ER we'll go up to the surgical waiting room to get an update on Erin, but then I'm taking you home-"

"What? No!" Katie interrupted. "I want to wait and see-"

"I know you do," Dave said as he interrupted _her_, "But you also need to get some rest. Honey, you had a terrible thing happen to you today and you're hurt; you need rest in order to heal both emotionally and physically."

"I'm fine!" She argued.

"This isn't up for negotiation, Belle. If you don't agree to my terms, I can easily go out and have them find a nice room here for you tonight."

Knowing she was beat, Katie gave an irritated huff, "Okay, you win."

"Good and I'll ask JJ to stay with your sisters so they're not alone."

"Okay, is that it?" Katie asked hopefully. Her hopes were dashed when she saw her dad smirk.

"You wish," he said. "Second, we will be following the doctor's directions to a tee and I don't want any guff from you about it. If the doc gives you medication, you'll take it as directed, no matter what the side effects are." He knew the doctor would be prescribing pain killers for Katie and he also knew she wouldn't take them if they knocked her out since she knew he would make her take a nap, whether they were at the hospital or not. He also knew from experience that painkillers were often needed in order to speed up the healing process, so she was going to take them whether she wanted to or not, but he'd rather not have a hassle every six hours.

Katie nodded her agreement; she was in a fair amount of pain and even though she knew the pills would make her loopy, she didn't really care at that moment just as long as her arm stopped hurting.

"Finally," Dave continued, "If you start feeling pain anywhere else or if you just feel off, you tell me right away so we can get you checked out."

"I will dad, I promise."

"Okay, then I won't make you stay here tonight," he told her as the technician walked in to put the cast on her arm.

xxxxxxxxxx

Forty-five minutes later, Dave signed his name to the paperwork which released Katie from the ER. He had a few prescriptions for her along with a waterproof sleeve for her cast and instructions for the care of her facial cuts and bruises. Once he had everything, he turned to help Katie off of the bed and he saw she was in a daze.

"You okay honey?" He asked with a frown.

She shook her head as if to clear it, "I'm fine, I'm just spacey from the pain pill they gave me," she told him. "Let's get up to the surgical floor." She hopped off of the bed, forgetting about her ribs and she hissed in pain as the landing sent a jolt of pain through her side.

"What's wrong?" Dave asked as he saw his daughter wince in pain.

"I'm fine, I just forgot about my ribs for a minute," she told him as they walked down the hallway.

Because of her bone marrow donation, they both knew the way to the surgical floor and within minutes they had entered the waiting room.

"Katie!" Allison exclaimed when she saw her sister. She jumped off of JJ's lap and launched herself at the teen. Dave, who had been standing next to his daughter, jumped in front of her and caught the little girl before she could connect with her.

"Easy Allie," he said, "Katie's kind of banged up right now so you have to be gentle with her."

Katie lowered herself onto one of the sofas and closed her eyes, the pain medication was making her very dizzy. Allie, who had wriggled free of Dave's arms, approached Katie hesitantly and climbed up next to her. "You got hurt?"

Katie nodded and held up her purple cast, "I broke my arm," she told her.

"So did mommy, she got hurt real bad!" Allie said with tears in her eyes.

"C'mere Al," Ellen said from a seat that faced the couch. She gathered the little girl up in her arms and rocked her. "How are you really?" She asked her half-sister and Katie was shocked by the way she asked it. After all that had happened in the last few hours, she'd expected Ellen to be livid. After all, her mother had been shot and her father was dead so why was she being almost nice to her? She decided not to question it, at least not until later.

"I'm okay, just really banged up," Katie told her as Clara sat down next to her.

"Did our dad do all of that to you?" She asked quietly, unsure if she really wanted to hear the answer.

"No, most of it's from the car accident," Katie lied not wanting her to feel guilty about it. "How's mo- how's Erin?"

"The doctor should be by soon with an update," JJ told her.

Katie turned to her dad, "I know I agreed to go home tonight, but can we stay until the doctor gives the update? _Please?_"

Dave thought for a minute and nodded, "As long as the update comes within the next hour," he told her. Thankfully for everyone, the doctor entered the waiting area less than twenty minutes later. "Family of Erin Strauss?" He called out and the six of them jumped to their feet...well five of them did, anyway. Katie struggled to her feet and finally got there with her dad's assistance.

"That's us," Ellen said, "How's my mother?"

"The bullet entered her chest, but it seemed to miss all of her vital organs and her spinal cord," the doctor said. "Right now we're just repairing damage to her muscles and a couple of blood vessels."

"But she'll be okay, right?" Ellen asked with a frantic pitch to her voice.

"She'll have some recovery time, but she should eventually be fine," he said and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "She'll be in surgery for the next couple of hours and then it'll be awhile before she'll be able to have visitors, so you may want to go home and get some rest." With that, the doctor left the room to get back to the surgery.

"I'm NOT leaving!" Ellen said firmly and she glared at JJ and Dave as if daring them to try and force her to leave. Neither of them were up for arguing with her and they could both understand why she wanted to be there.

"I'll stay here with the girls," JJ said, "Why don't you take Katie home?"

"Thanks JJ, I'll make sure one of the team members relieves you first thing in the morning, okay?"

"That'd be great Dave, thanks," she said as she prepared for a long night in the uncomfortable waiting room.

"And remember," he said to Ellen, "You're not alone so don't be afraid to ask for help."

"Thanks Dave," she said softly and he nodded. After that, Katie said goodbye to her sisters and Dave escorted her out to his waiting SUV. He helped her into the car and then started off for their house. Katie was asleep before they got out of the hospital parking lot.


	39. Chapter 39

Family Ties-Chapter 39

* * *

Thirty minutes later, the two of them entered the townhouse through the garage door. Mudgie, not knowing anything was wrong, ran up to Katie for some attention. As he jumped on her, she smiled and scratched his head as she praised his canine cuteness. Dave, who was a few steps behind his daughter, quickly came and pulled the dog off of her, scolding him as he did so.

"Hey, I was petting him!" The teen protested as they entered the kitchen; she felt a pang of sympathy for the chastised dog.

"He shouldn't be jumping up on you," her dad responded as he pulled a glass down from the shelf and filled it with water.

"He jumps on me all the time," Katie argued as he set the drink in on the counter in front of her.

"Yeah but you normally don't have multiple broken bones and bruises," Dave said and then changed the subject. "The doctor said you need to stay hydrated, so drink up." He nodded at the glass and Katie picked it up with a sigh.

"I'm not made of glass dad, I'll be fine." She said as she took a large drink of the water and then set the glass back down on the counter.

"Humor me, okay?" He said with a gruff edge to his voice; did she not realize how close he had come to losing her? She was lucky he wasn't wrapping her in bubble wrap and arranging for homeschooling. As those thoughts hit him, he moved closer to her and pulled her into a gentle hug. "I'm so glad to have you back here, safe and sound."

Katie heard the emotion in his voice and almost lost it but instead she took a deep breath and nodded into his chest. "Me too; it feels like I was gone for a year."

They stayed like that for a minute until a loud growl emanated from the teen's stomach. Dave chuckled as he released her. "Hungry?" He asked and was surprised when Katie shook her head.

"Not really," she told him truthfully.

"When was the last time you ate?" He asked as he moved back towards the cabinets.

"Breakfast," she told him. She and Erin were going to eat lunch at the cabin earlier that day but that plan had kinda been derailed.

"And you only had a granola bar then, right?"

Katie nodded and watched as her dad opened the fridge and began rooting around. "How about I make you some scrambled eggs and toast?"

"Oooh," Katie said excitedly, feeling her appetite suddenly return, "Can we have brinner? Can you make your world famous pancakes and hash browns too?" For awhile after her mom died neither one of them had known how to cook anything complicated so they had 'breakfast for dinner' many times and eventually Katie had shortened it to just 'brinner.'

"Since it's technically almost morning, I think that can be arranged," he said with a smile as he began pulling various ingredients out of the fridge and cabinets. Mudgie, who knew food was about to be produced, sat at the edge of the kitchen, wagging his tail and salivating.

"While you do that, I'm going to jump in the shower; I feel disgusting." Between the mustiness of the garage where she'd been held combined with all of the tears, dried blood and just a general feeling of ickiness from having been kidnapped, Katie wanted to wash the filth of the day off of her. She was surprised when her dad shook his head.

"You can't get your cast wet yet, even with the protective sleeve; the doctor said it needs twelve hours to fully harden," he told her.

Katie nodded, "Okay, I'll take a bath and keep my arm out of the water."

"I don't think so," Dave said as he mixed the pancake batter.

"Why not?" Katie asked with a whine to her voice; all she wanted was a freaking bath, was that too much to ask?

"Because you're spacey from your pain medicine and I don't want you passing out and drowning. You're not taking a bath by yourself," he told her firmly.

"Well you're sure as heck not helping me!" She fired back a bit louder than before.

"I know that," Dave said as he tried to keep his cool. "That's why you'll have to wait until tomorrow."

"I'm not waiting until tomorrow; I want to take a bath now!" Katie shrieked as she stomped her foot. She'd gone into tantrum mode and Dave lost it a little.

"Well what do you want me to do, Katie? Wave a magic wand?" He snapped loudly. 'Don't kill her, Dave,' he mentally reminded himself. 'You worked your ass off to get her back, don't ruin all of that hard work by killing her.'

Katie, who had been glaring at him defiantly, suddenly burst into tears. "I just want to wash everything from today off of me, is that so much to ask?"

Dave went from frustrated as hell to feeling like a Class A asshole; his daughter had just been through a traumatic and painful event and there he was yelling at her. "Belle-" he started in a gentler tone, but he was interrupted by a new voice.

"Knock, knock," Garcia said from the doorway to the kitchen. Mudgie, the supposed guard dog, bounded over to her and began nudging her hand.

"Garcia! What the hell are you doing here? How did you get in?" Dave asked, surprised to see her standing in his kitchen at eleven-thirty at night.

"Well good evening to you too, Super Agent," she said. "I knocked on the front door, but you and Katie were in the middle of a loud…discussion, so I used the shiny new key you gave me." She bent down and pet Mudgie on the neck. "As for what I'm doing here, I heard our cupcake's arm was broken and I figured she'd need help with a shower or a bath and since she's thirteen and you're a guy…do I really need to continue?" Garcia had come to the hospital with a change of clothes for Katie and then left to help with the various reports for the case so she hadn't known for sure that the teen's arm was broken until Hotch told her.

"Thank God," Dave sighed. "You're a mind reader, Penelope."

"Not really, I just know that after I was shot, I wanted to wash the whole experience off of me."

"Exactly," Katie said, grateful for the woman's understanding.

"Why don't you go upstairs and start running the bath? I'll be up in a minute."

"'Kay," Katie said as she headed for the staircase.

"Take it easy on the steps," Dave called out and Katie just rolled her eyes. Once she was up on the second floor, Dave turned to Penelope. "You really are a Godsend tonight; I didn't know what I was going to do."

"No problem Dave. You know the next few days are going to be about control for her, right?" Garcia asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not a profiler or a shrink or anything, but I know that after I was shot it seemed like everything was out of my control and I fought everyone over the tiniest things just so I could feel like I was in control of _something. _Obviously you're going to have to take care of her, but my advice is to let the little things go."

"You're a wise woman, Penelope Garcia," Dave said, somewhat in awe; it was strange getting a profile from the technical analyst, but when it came to his daughter he would take anything he could get.

"You're damn right I am and don't you forget it!" She said, laughing. "I also bring news from our esteemed leader."

"And what would that be?" He asked.

"You are cordially invited to the BAU tomorrow at 10:00am. He needs to get Katie's statement for the report."

"Damn," he said softly, "I forgot about that. Let him know we'll be there, although it might be later than ten because I'm not going to wake her if she's asleep."

"I'll pass the message along," she said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe your daughter needs my assistance."

xxxxxxxxxx

After dinner, or 'brinner,' Garcia left to get some sleep and Dave escorted Katie up the stairs. He wanted to carry her, since she'd taken another pain pill and could barely walk a straight line, but she refused and Dave remembered Garcia's advice to let the little things go, so he did. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Katie headed for her bedroom, but Dave stopped her.

"Uh uh, you're sleeping in my room tonight."

"But dad," she whined, "I really want to sleep in my own bed."

"Tough," he told her. "I'll sleep on the couch in my room and you can have the bed." Seeing her open her mouth to argue, Dave pushed on. "I want to be nearby in case you need anything, Belle," he said gently and was surprised when she nodded her head.

"Okay," she agreed. Truth be told she didn't really want to be alone in her dark bedroom, it was too scary at the moment.

They got to his room, he tucked her in and she was asleep before he even had the couch made up. He turned off the light and fell asleep soon after.

It felt like his head had just hit the pillow when he was awakened by Mudgie frantically licking his face. "Oh God, Mudge, just let me sleep," he begged, forgetting Katie was in the room. He wiped his face and then heard whimpering coming from the king sized bed.

He got up and sat down on the bed. Katie was in the middle of it and she was tossing and turning while whimpering. Knowing that if he woke her now she would probably remember the dream, he settled for climbing onto the bed. He sat with his back against the headboard and he gently brushed the hair off of her face. That action seemed to soothe Katie and she stopped struggling against imaginary bonds. Dave repeated the action a few times and Katie finally calmed down, turned onto her side and curled up closer to him. It was the sight of the black eye that reminded him of how close he had come to losing her that day and a wave of horror and panic hit him like a ton of bricks. For a split second he was back in that garage watching as Timothy Strauss pointed a gun at her and took aim.

A wave of panicked nausea hit him and he gallantly resisted the urge to vomit. Instead he took a couple of deep breaths and tried to push the memory out of his mind. When he finally succeeded, he glanced at the bedside clock and saw that it was nearly four o'clock in the morning. Even though he was exhausted, he knew there was no way he would be able to fall back asleep so he invited the dog up onto the bed, which was a rare treat for him, and both of them kept a silent watch over Katie.


	40. Chapter 40

Family Ties-Chapter 40

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* * *

As she slowly came out of her slumber the next morning, Katie was aware of two things; first, she felt like she had been hit by a semi-truck and second, someone was breathing directly into her face and that someone needed a breath mint badly. She cracked one eye open and found Mudgie staring directly into her face, his face only inches from hers. When he saw her eye open, the controlled breathing turned into an excited pant and his tail began to frantically wag.

What the hell was he doing on her bed? He knew he wasn't allowed on the furniture, unless he wanted to face her dad's wrath, so why was he up there now? As she awoke more fully, Katie remembered the events of the past day and evening and she remembered she was not in her bed, but in her dad's. As the memories from the previous day flooded back to her, tears sprung to her eyes but she quickly wiped them away; she didn't want to think too hard about her time in captivity. Instead she slowly sat up and discovered her dad sleeping on the bed next to her. He was propped up against the headboard and she could hear him softly snoring and even though the bedside clock read 9:00am, she assumed he hadn't slept too well, so she didn't wake him.

She slowly and silently got off of the bed and left the room, taking Mudgie with her. As she walked, it felt like every part of her body hurt from the tips of her toes to the roots of her hair and while she knew she should take one of her pain pills, they were on the bedside table next to her dad and she didn't want to risk waking him. She knew he needed his sleep and she also knew that he would go into overprotective 'dad mode' as soon as he understood how much pain she was in and she wanted to put that off for as long as possible.

Once on the first floor she let the dog out the back door to do his business while she wandered into the kitchen. She was hungry, but she was hungry for something sweet. Knowing her dad would want her to eat something somewhat healthy for breakfast; she searched the refrigerator for something that would fit the bill. After a few minutes of rooting around, she finally found a tube of cinnamon rolls and she quickly popped them out, put them on a cookie sheet and stuck them in the oven. Soon the scent of cinnamon engulfed the townhouse.

It was the smell of the baking treats that penetrated Dave's sleep. As he awoke, he felt a stiffness in his neck and, like his daughter, he woke up slowly by cracking one eye open. He wondered why he had slept against the headboard and why it felt like it was mid-morning. As soon as he opened both eyes, he remembered the horror of the previous day and he immediately looked around for his daughter. He panicked slightly when he realized she wasn't in the bedroom and he immediately began searching for her. He dashed out into the hallway and stuck his head into her room. When he saw the empty room further panic gripped his heart. What if she was gone again? What if some madman had broken in and taken her? A few days ago he would have chuckled at his paranoia but his worst fear had come to life the day before, what was to stop it from happening again? He dashed down the stairs and into the living room where he breathed a sigh of relief when he found her sprawled out on the sofa with Mudgie next to her on the floor, as if keeping guard over her.

"Morning Belle," he said as he came into her line of sight.

"Oh, you're up!" Katie said a little startled by his quiet entrance. "Morning." She slowly sat up and Dave worried when he saw her wince.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he sat down next to her and pressed a hand to her forehead.

"I'm hurt, not sick dad," she told him with a small smile.

"It's a force of habit," he told her. "So how're you doing?"

"I'm sore, really sore, but I don't think anything new is wrong with me," she said when she saw the concern in his eyes. "It feels kinda like when you fall down or pull a muscle, it always hurts worse the next day."

"I suppose you're right," he said. "I'll get your antibiotic and pain pill and then we should probably eat breakfast and then get going."

"Good, I was going to call JJ or Emily for an update, but my cell phone is in my book bag and God knows where that is."

"It's considered evidence, but don't worry, I'll get you a new one on our way to the BAU," Dave said as he stood up. "Are those cinnamon rolls I smell?"

"They are," Katie told him as she also stood up, but she took much longer getting to her feet. "Why are we going to the BAU? I thought we were going to the hospital. You promised!"

"I know I did," he said as he took the rolls out of the oven, "and we're still going, but Aaron needs your statement for the official reports, so we have to go to the BAU first."

"Oh," the teen said, not sure how she felt about that. She was trying _really _hard not to think about what had happened to her and her mother and she knew that by talking to Aaron, she would have to relive her time in the garage and she wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep it together. She tried to put everything out of her mind as she took a seat at the breakfast bar.

"Yeah, so let's eat and then we can get going. Are you going to need help with anything?" Dave asked, wondering what they would do if she couldn't dress herself.

"I'm going to wear a button down shirt, so I should be able to get dressed by myself, but I might need help with my hair since my stupid ribs make it hard for me to raise my arm."

"Okay, I should be able to do that," he told her as he set a cinnamon roll, a glass of milk and two large pills in front of her.

"I know I said I would take my pills as prescribed, but can I wait to take the painkiller? I want to be clear headed when I talk to Aaron," she told him.

Dave thought for a second and then nodded, "Okay, but take your other pill and some ibuprofen with your breakfast; I want to be out of here in an hour."

xxxxxxxxxx

Two hours later, Dave and Katie walked into the BAU bullpen. Katie, who was clearly feeling her pain, walked slowly and Dave matched her pace in case she needed assistance. As soon as they stepped through the glass doors, Garcia appeared as if by magic.

"And how are my two favorite Italians this morning?" She asked as she gave Katie a gentle hug.

"Sore," Katie said, "But okay. We called the hospital on the way over and Erin was awake and talking earlier this morning. As soon as we're done here, dad and I are going over there."

"That's great, Cupcake," Garcia said as she took a good look at the girl. She looked tired, the bruises were more pronounced than they were the day before and her purple cast stood out against her pale skin, but she looked better than most post-kidnapping victims they saw. As she took a look at the teen's hair, Garcia gave a snort of laughter.

"I'm guessing your dad did your hair?"

Katie nodded and grinned, "Is it that bad? I've kinda been avoiding mirrors today."

"Um, well…did you want your hair to look like a bird's nest? Because if so, it looks great."

Katie groaned as Dave glared at the technical analyst. "Excuse the hell out of me for not knowing how to style hair; I guess I skipped that course at the academy."

"Is it really that bad?" Katie asked Penelope as she tried smoothing it down with her left hand.

"It's nothing a few minutes with me won't fix," she told the teen.

"Yeah, but I've got to meet with Aaron right now."

"Actually Katie," Aaron said as he stepped up behind the trio, "I need to talk to your dad for a few minutes, so you can go with Garcia."

"Okay," she said and then followed the technical genius to her lair. Once they were gone, Dave turned to his boss.

"What do you need, Aaron?"

"You can't sit in on my questioning of Katie," he said and then waited for the explosion. He didn't have to wait long.

"Like hell I can't!" Dave said loudly. "That's my _daughter_ you're talking about and I am going to be there for her."

"I need her to feel comfortable talking to me and that's going to be hard enough as it is. We have to know everything that went on in there and Strauss isn't in any shape to talk to us, so Katie's got to be the one to fill us in."

"_I_ need to know what went on in there, Hotch!" He said as desperation crept into his voice. "The nightmares, the 'what if's' that went through my head all night were terrible and I need to know that it wasn't as bad as I imagined."

"I know you do, but this is about her right now, not you," Aaron could see his friend was about to interrupt him, so he spoke louder. "_I'm _going to interview her and I'm going to do it in Garcia's office so it's more comfortable for her. I'll have Garcia with me and if she asks for you, then you can sit in but until that happens, you're out."

"Goddammit Hotch!" Dave started, but his boss wouldn't let him continue.

"I'm going to leave Penelope's office door open," he said meaningfully. "It's Saturday, so there aren't many people around. If you should _accidentally_ overhear our interview from the hallway…well, I have no control over that."

That stopped Dave in his tracks; at least it was _something_. "Be gentle with her Hotch, she's built walls up around herself and she hasn't broken down yet."

"It's not going to be a cognitive interview; I just need her to tell me what happened."

The older man sighed, "Okay, let's do this."

They walked down to Garcia's lair together and as Hotch approached the open door, Rossi stopped and waited outside of it, just out of view of the office.

"Hey, are you ready to give your statement?" The unit chief asked as he walked into the technical office.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Katie said as Garcia finished pulling her hair into a ponytail. The three of them sat down around the small table and Katie felt herself tense up. "Why isn't my dad here?"

"I thought you might feel more comfortable talking to just the two of us," Hotch told her as he pulled out his mini recorder.

"Yeah, but he'll be able to read the official report, right?"

"Yes."

"So he might as well be in here to hear it," Katie said. "Besides, he's standing right outside the door, so he's going to hear everything anyway."

Dave snorted from his position outside of the office. "You might as well come in Dave," he heard his boss call out and he took two steps and entered the small room.

"How did you know he was out there?" Hotch asked the teen.

"I heard two sets of footsteps approach the office and one set suddenly stopped as you walked into the room," she explained. "Plus, knowing my dad, he wasn't just going to sit up in his office while we talked," she told him.

"Wow, so after you graduate from college you're going to come work for me, right?" Hotch asked, only half kidding.

"Hell no," Dave said as he stood in the entrance of the lair, "She's going into a safe line of work." He sat down in a chair next to his daughter and took her hand. "Are you sure you want me in here, Belle?"

The teen nodded, "Yeah, I don't really have anything to hide."

"Okay Katie, all I need you to do is tell me what happened from the time Erin's car was hit until we arrived," Hotch told her.

Katie took a deep breath and began her story, starting from when Timothy rear ended the car and ending with when she saw him hit the ground after the BAU's bullets had slammed into him. She left out the conversations she had with her mother because that really wasn't any of their business and it was private. By the end, she was in tears and Dave could tell her shields were beginning to crumble.

"So he ordered your mother to kill you and then what happened?" Hotch asked. While Katie's story wasn't as bad as it could have been, it was still pretty bad and he didn't know how Dave wasn't howling in outrage and anger over what Timothy had done to her. It was a good thing they had killed the man because he was fairly sure that if Timothy Strauss had still been alive, Dave would have sought him out and killed him very, _very_ slowly.

"She refused, so he put the gun to her head, but she refused again. Then he cocked the gun and that's when I screamed at him to stop. Once I did that, he turned from mom to me and I thought he was going to shoot me but mom jumped in front of him and took the bullet," she said through her tears. "It was all my fault! I shouldn't have said anything! He wouldn't have shot her if it hadn't been for me!" She was crying hard by this time and Dave knew that everything was finally hitting her.

"Sweetheart, this is in NO WAY your fault!" Dave said as he scooted his chair closer to hers and gently wrapped his arms around her, being careful of her cracked ribs.

"Dave's right Katie," Hotch said gently, "In fact, if you hadn't tried to stop him, he probably would have killed her. Your scream not only saved Erin's life, it also alerted us to where you were."

"Yeah, but if it weren't for me, Timothy wouldn't have come after us in the first place," the teen said through her sobs.

"Yes he would have," her dad told her. "He was going after Erin and you got caught up in it; if anything this is my fault. I'm the one who let Erin use the cabin and I'm the one who suggested she take you out of school."

"That's dumb," Katie said as she continued to cry into her dad's chest. "You didn't know he was going to go after Erin."

"It's no dumber than _you _blaming yourself for what happened. Honey, you didn't ask to be born into this craziness, it just happened," Dave told her.

"I just want to forget this ever happened," she wept. "It keeps playing through my mind."

"It _will_ get better Katie, trust me," Penelope said as she patted her uninjured arm. "These first couple of days will be hard, but eventually you'll get past it."

"Really?" She asked as she swiped her non-casted arm across her face.

Hotch nodded, "Garcia's right, eventually this will become a just a small part of who you are and it will actually make you stronger."

"Listen to them, Katie Belle, they know what they're talking about," Dave said as he fished around for a handkerchief. He found one in his back pocket and handed it to her so she could mop up her tears.

She pulled away from him and cleaned up her face, "Thanks," she said and then handed it back to him. He set it aside and re-wrapped his arm around her shoulders. While he was glad that she'd finally showed some emotion over what had happened the previous day, he wished she hadn't had to go through it at all. "Is that all you need Hotch?" He asked and the unit chief nodded.

"Can we _please _go back to the hospital now?" Katie asked and Dave nodded.

"As long as you take your pain pill and eat some lunch," he told her and then turned to his boss. "Did someone relieve JJ at the hospital this morning?"

Hotch nodded, "I sent Emily to stay with the girls while Morgan and Reid process the scene. I tried to imagine the two guys trying to care for three upset girls and the picture in my mind wasn't a good one."

The three adults smiled when they heard Katie giggle at that image. "I can just picture Reid quoting shooting statistics and Ellen kicking the crap out of him." They all chuckled at that and then the teen slowly stood up and everyone followed.

Dave quickly worked out a loose hospital and work schedule with his boss and then he left with his daughter. Both Garcia and Hotch watched as they stepped onto the elevator that would take them to the parking garage.

"Do you really think she'll be alright, sir?" Garcia asked, needing reassurance that she hadn't lied to her teenage friend.

"I really think she will be, Penelope," he told her. "She's strong, hell she's had to be to get through the past year, and she has a strong and caring father. I think she'll be just fine."


	41. Chapter 41

Family Ties-Chapter 41

* * *

As they exited the elevator and stepped onto the surgical floor, Katie gripped her dad's hand nervously. Sure, the previous night her sisters were all nice to her, including Ellen which made her think she was dying or something, but now that they'd had time to think about things, how would they react to her today? _Their _dad was dead and _her _dad was one of the people who killed him, not to mention the fact that their mom was in the hospital with a gunshot wound. Would they blame her? She wouldn't blame them if they did. No matter what her dad, Aaron and Penelope said, she knew that if she had just kept quiet in the garage, Timothy wouldn't have shot Erin. She also knew that if it hadn't been for her, Timothy wouldn't have lost his marbles and come after Erin in the first place. No, if her sisters blamed her, if they got pissed and ranted at her, she would stay quiet and take it from them.

Thankfully her fears were for naught because when they walked into the waiting area, both Clara and Allison ran up to her and hugged her, only letting go when her dad pulled them off of her. "Easy kids, remember she's still sore," he reminded them.

"Katie, guess what? I got to see mommy today!" She said with a smile. "She's very sick, but she smiled at me and told me she loved me!"

"That's great Allie," Katie said as she sat down at the table in the corner of the room. Her little sister followed her and gently climbed into her lap.

"Uh huh, and then JJ came back a little while ago and she brought me _two _new Barbies! Wanna play?"

Katie could feel her pain pill taking effect and she was feeling a little sleepy. "Not now Allie, but maybe later."

Clara, who had sat down next to her older sister, picked up a book and said, "She also brought me this."

"_Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants_ is a great book, we'll have to discuss it when you're done," Katie told her and then asked, "Where's Ellen?"

"In with mommy," Allie said. "You should go see them."

"Oh, I don't want to interrupt their time together," the teen said, not wanting to face the wrath of their older sister.

"Mom said you should come see her as soon as you arrived," Clara said.

While Katie debated whether or not to visit her mother while her sister was there, Dave had a quiet conversation with Emily.

"So how's Erin doing?"

Emily shrugged, "The doctor said she's doing really well and the girls have been able to visit her."

"Have you seen her?"

The brunette shook her head, "I thought it would be best for her to have some one on one time with her daughters," she said diplomatically.

Dave grinned, "Or could it be that you still want to avoid her at all costs?"

"There's that," Emily agreed with a smile. "JJ was just here; apparently she couldn't sleep once she got home, so she went in to the BAU to help with the paperwork. Thankfully she dropped off some breakfast and some things to keep the kids occupied. They're eventually going to have to go home, if only to sleep."

"I know," Dave said, "And I'll-" he was cut off by the ringing of his cell phone. "Rossi," he barked into it.

"I need you back here Dave," his unit chief said on the other end.

"I'm at the hospital with Katie, can't it wait?"

Hotch shook his head, forgetting the other man couldn't see him, "Some of the higher ups are demanding answers, answers that I don't have yet and I thought with you being the victim's father and all, not to mention the finesse you have with other people…"

"You need someone to knock some sense into them and since I'm practically untouchable, you want me to do it, right?"

"Something like that," Hotch said.

Dave glanced at his daughter and saw she was still talking to her younger sisters. "Okay, I'll leave Katie here and come back, but it had better be quick!" He disconnected from his boss and turned towards Katie. "I've got to go back to the office for a little while, will you be okay here?"

Katie looked at her sisters and nodded, "I'll be fine."

"I'll be back soon," he said and then left the waiting area, motioning for Emily to follow him. Once they were in the hallway, he said, "Watch out for her, Emily. The last time I let her out of my sight she was taken from me."

"I know Dave, I'll watch her like she's my own."

"Good, and make sure Ellen doesn't give her any grief. You have my permission to lock her in a supply closet if you need to."

"I'm sure it won't come to that; just go Rossi, everyone will be fine here." Dave followed her order and left and Emily re-entered the waiting area.

"Um, Emily?" Katie asked as she slowly stood up. "Do you know what room my mom is in?"

"419," she responded. "Do you want me to come with you?" Emily really didn't want to see her unit chief, but she didn't want Katie going alone if she felt uncomfortable. Thankfully for her, the teen shook her head.

"No, this is something I need to do on my own," she said as she left the room. Once she was alone, she took a deep breath before starting down the hallway. She stopped outside of her mother's room, took another deep breath and then knocked.

"Come in," she heard a voice call out, so she opened the door and slowly entered the room.

"Katie!" Erin exclaimed when she saw her daughter enter the room. She stood as far away from the bed as she could and eyed Ellen warily.

"Please come in, honey," Erin said, gesturing towards an empty chair on the other side of her bed from Ellen.

"Okay," Katie said quietly and she approached the chair. "How are you?" She asked as she sat down. All in all, the woman looked pretty good. She was paler than normal, and her face winced in pain every once in a while, but she had her bed in a seated position and she was able to speak pretty well.

"I'm alright, the doctor said I should be out of here in about a week or so," her mom told her. "How are you?" From what Erin could see, the teen looked much like she did when they were in captivity, although there was more bruising on her face than she remembered.

"I'm okay, just kind of banged up."

"So your arm is broken?" Erin asked, looking at the purple cast.

"Yeah, I also have two broken ribs," she said, pointing to her right side. "And God forbid if I don't take my pain pills exactly how the doctor prescribed them. Was dad a prison guard before he joined the FBI?"

Erin snorted, "That would make sense, wouldn't it?" She continued to watch her injured daughter and deduced that while injured, she seemed to be in fairly good spirits, although a bit shyer than normal. The three of them sat in silence for a few minutes until Erin spoke again.

"Ellen and I were thinking that once I'm out of here and have recuperated a little, the five of us should take a little trip somewhere relaxing; we were thinking Virginia Beach."

It took Katie a minute to figure out that when Erin said the five of them, she had included her in with her other daughters. "Um, I'm not so sure that's a good idea," she said, looking at the floor.

"Why not?"

"Because I think we should call this whole thing off…I think it would be best if I just wasn't a part of your family anymore." Katie was still staring at the ground so she missed the matching distressed looks on both her mother's and her sister's faces and she continued. "I…I don't want to cause anymore tension for you. I know Ellen hates me, although I'm not sure why, and if it weren't for me, well, the kidnapping and shooting wouldn't have happened. It just seems like I've brought a bunch of trouble to your family."

"_Our_ family, Katie," Erin said firmly. "Like it or not, you _are a _part of this family and this was in NO way your fault! Timothy made his own choices in life and while he obviously had mental health issues at the end, he could have chosen to seek help for them. I know he blamed you for the breakup of our marriage and for his failure as a father, but it was NOT your fault!"

Katie felt tears spring to her eyes during her mother's speech; a part of her had been afraid that the woman would blame her for all that had happened, but she hadn't and while she felt a great sense of relief, some guilt remained and she wondered whether her older sister would get past the event as easily. She took a shuddery breath and looked at her mother before speaking.

"You may not blame me, but others might and I already have a sister who can't stand me and I can't live like that; I don't need for everything to be perfect, but I can't be around someone who outright hates me and I know this is just going to make that worse."

There was a moment of silence and then, "I don't hate you Katie," Ellen said softly and Katie jerked her head up to look at her.

"Yes you do! You've been nothing but horrible to me since the moment we met," she said loudly.

"I know I have and…I'm sorry. I used you as a scapegoat for everything that was wrong in our family," she told her younger sister. "I had this vision of my parents as this perfect couple before you came along, but I know that's not right, I don't know if mom and dad were ever truly happy around me. But you! You had it all! You had a mom who had stayed at home with you and a dad who loves you more than anything and then you came along and saved the day with Clara. I got jealous and I acted very badly towards you and…I know I don't deserve it, but I hope you'll forgive me."

Katie was stunned but also a little skeptical, "What changed?" She asked. "Why do you suddenly want to be bosom buddies with me?"

Ellen snorted at that image, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." And in spite of everything, Katie felt a small smile creep across her face. "As for what changed, _this _changed," she said, sweeping her arm around the room. "It took all of this to make me finally realize that my dad was FAR from perfect, that the image I had been holding onto in my head was a false one. I don't know, it took almost losing everything to realize what I had all along." She smiled at her mom and squeezed her hand before she continued. "I know I was horrible to you and if I could, I would take it all back, but I _don't _want you to leave our family, I know we can make it work."

Katie didn't know what to say, she was shocked. On the one hand, she was scared to put herself out there again and have Ellen revert back to her old ways, but on the other, she had been happy to be a part of their family and a part of her wanted that back. She didn't know what to do and the indecision showed on her face.

Erin, seeing Katie's expression, said to Ellen gently, "Honey, will you give us a few minutes alone? I need to talk to Katie."

"Sure mom," she said as she got up from her chair. She was near the door when she turned back around. "I really _am_ sorry for being such a bitch towards you…I hope you'll let me make it up to you by being your big sister." She left the room and Katie was left reeling. Her mind was a jumble, her emotions were all over the place and all she wanted to do was be by herself for a little while so she could think things over but, unfortunately, that was not in the cards for her.

Erin watched the emotions play across her daughter's face and while she would have loved to give her some time to process them, that was not going to happen; she had worked too hard to get Katie into the same room with her and after all they'd gone through together...well if she thought she was just going to walk away from her family, she was in for a rude awakening.

"I know when we first started meeting for lunch, I told you it was up to you if you wanted to have a relationship with me and your sisters, but now I'm changing the rules," she said and Katie looked at her in surprise. "Now _I'm _in charge and I've got to tell you, there's no way in hell I'm letting you go! I love you Katie, you're my daughter and I can't let you walk away from our family any more than I could let Ellen, Clara or Allie." Hearing her daughter start to interrupt, she plowed ahead loudly. "You can tell me all you want that you don't want to be a part of our family and you can get your dad involved, but I'll fight hard for you and I usually win my battles, especially when the stakes are so high. So if you thought you were going to get away from me, you're mistaken, I love you too much to let you go."

Katie's eyes had filled with tears while her mom was speaking and now they were coursing down her face. "I love you too," she whispered as she took her mother's hand. "When Timothy shot you, it was like I finally realized that you really _are _my mom. Don't get me wrong, I loved my mom a lot before she died and I still miss her, but you were willing to die for me and…I guess that makes you my mom too."

Erin nodded, "I _am_ your mother, just like Janet Rossi was your mother, and I've missed you these past few weeks."

"I've missed you too…mom," she said and it felt kind of weird to use that word with her, but it also felt right. "I've missed you and my sisters." She said the last part through a teary yawn.

"You look really tired honey; why don't you recline your chair back and take a nap?" Katie was sitting in one of the requisite, uncomfortable reclining chairs that were present in all hospital rooms. "We can talk again later."

Katie nodded and slowly pulled up on the lever that put reclined the chair. "These stupid painkillers make me really sleepy," she told her mother as she rested her broken arm on the bed and closed her eyes. Erin took her hand and listened to her rhythmic breathing. Within minutes, both were fast asleep.

xxxxxxxxxx

Dave spent over two hours at the BAU before returning to the hospital. As he walked into his former lover's room, he saw that she was gazing lovingly at their sleeping daughter.

He watched the two of them for a few minutes before asking softly, "How's she doing?"

Erin looked at him in surprise and wondered how long he had been there. "She's been sleeping for the last couple of hours."

"Good, she needs it," he said as he sat down in the seat that had been vacated by Ellen. "How are you doing?"

"I feel like I took a bullet to the chest, but the doctors tell me there shouldn't be any long term damage from it," she told him and then sighed. "I'm tired and sore and I'm worried about my girls. My housekeeper is visiting relatives overseas so I don't know what I'm going to do with them while I'm here."

"Don't worry about it, they'll be taken care of."

"But Dave, I'm going to be here for at least a week, maybe more and-"

"I _said_ don't worry about it," he interrupted. "Garcia just took them home to sleep and shower and we'll work something out until you're home; your girls will _not_ be left to fend for themselves."

Strauss was momentarily speechless, which Dave never thought he would see. "Thank you David," she finally stammered. "I don't quite know what else to say."

"I told Ellen that any family of Katie's is also my family."

"And what did she say to that?" Erin asked with a smirk.

"We came to a truce while you were gone," he said with a shrug. "I assured her that she and her sisters would never be alone and I meant it."

Erin took a minute to process that; she never thought her oldest daughter would _ever_ willingly be in a room with David Rossi but it sounds as though not only were they in close proximity, they even got along. She shook her head slightly, as if to clear it, and then looked back down at their sleeping daughter. "She agreed to give it another go with me, with us."

Dave nodded, "I'm glad Erin, she's been much happier with all of you in her life."

"That's all I want, I just want her to be happy, especially after all of this," she said. "And in order for her to be truly happy, I think you and I are going to have to figure out a way to be friends; I don't want her to feel like she's in the middle of our issues."

"I agree and while I'm happy she's going to be spending time with you again, I'll never give her up," he said firmly. "I'll fight you to the death if you ever try to take her from me; I've raised her for the past 13 years and I _will_ keep primary custody of her."

"I would never try to take her from you, but I want to see her more often. I want her to have a real relationship with me and her sisters."

"I think that can be arranged," he told her. "So do you think we can do it? Can we be nice to each other?"

Erin smiled and again looked at her daughter. "I will do anything to make her happy; it's what mothers do."


	42. Epilogue

Chapter 42

**~So this is the end of the story. I really enjoyed writing it and if I can think of an idea for another story in this 'verse, I'll revisit it. **

**~Please drop me review or PM and let me know what you liked and what you might want to see in another story in this 'verse.**

* * *

Four months. It had been four months since the kidnapping, since Katie and Erin were held by a man who had clearly lost his mind. It had been four months since Erin's stern declaration that she would not permit Katie to leave their family and it had been four months since Dave and Erin had begun an uneasy friendship. A lot had changed in those four months, but the changes were mostly for the better.

Once Erin was out of the hospital, she was put on medical leave for a month. During that time, she reconnected with Ellen, Clara and Allie and she was able to get to know Katie much better. Because Dave knew that Erin's free time would be limited again once she returned to work, he let Katie spend a lot of the month at the Strauss house. He missed her while she was gone, but he knew she needed the time to really bond with her mother and sisters.

Unsurprisingly, the Strauss girls had some trouble coping with their father's demise. Not only had he kidnapped and hurt their mother and sister, but he'd also died as a result of it and it took them some time to get past that. Katie, surprisingly, had gotten past the kidnapping with minimal psychological effects. Sure, she had the expected nightmares and mood swings, but thankfully Erin had been able to help with those. Because of the kidnapping, and also due to the changes that had taken place in their family, Erin signed the five of them up for weekly family counseling sessions and, since he was Katie's father and had a role in their family, Dave had also attended a few of the sessions. While he didn't get much out of them, he wanted to do whatever was necessary to help his daughter adjust to the changes life had thrown her.

Erin had been good about not asking for more time with Katie than Dave was comfortable giving her, but he knew that Erin wanted to spend much more time with her daughter so the two of them talked and arranged mutual family outings. That way Katie could spend time with her mother and sisters and she could see that Dave and Erin were getting along. To everyone's surprise, the outings were usually pretty fun. One day, they went to a National's baseball game and they were all shocked when, after a bad call, quiet little Clara joined in the screaming at the umpire. They'd also all spent time at the cabin in Little Creek and they'd taken various day trips around DC.

As a result of all of their family time together, Dave had grown closer to the Strauss girls and while he knew he would never be a replacement for their dead father, he somewhat filled the fatherly void in their lives. Just the previous weekend he found himself interrogating Ellen's date, much to her vocal displeasure, and the previous month he'd built a playhouse for Allie in her backyard. Since Clara was such a bookworm, he'd taken her to a meeting at his publisher's office earlier in the month and she'd been intrigued to learn the ins and outs of the publishing world. They were all getting along much better than any of them could have hoped.

In order to spend more time with her other family, Katie had also begun staying with her mother and sisters when Dave went out of town on cases, much to Penelope's disappointment. While she had liked staying with the quirky woman, it was nice for Katie to have a more permanent place to stay. Her room at the Strauss house had been the guest room, but she and her second family had spent a weekend redecorating it and now it truly felt like it was hers; she felt like she really belonged.

xxxxxxxxxx

For the sixth time in as many minutes, Dave wondered exactly what the hell he'd gotten himself into. Here he was, one of the greatest profiling minds of a generation and he was stuck in a large SUV with five women, four of whom were under the age of eighteen and they all seemed to be speaking at once.

Ellen and Katie were in the farthest back seat, arguing over their allegiances to team Jacob and team Edward, whatever the _hell_ that was. Clara was sitting on the closer backseat and she was reading a passage of her book to her mother while Allie was singing along loudly, and off-key, to the kiddie music that was playing in the car's stereo. Finally, Erin was sitting in the passenger seat next to him and she was trying to get Allie to keep it down while listening to Clara's reading. It was enough to give him a migraine, or drive him to drink.

The hell of it was, it was his own fault that he was stuck in the estrogen filled purgatory. When Erin had approached him a month ago asking for permission to take Katie on a two week, cross country road trip with her and her girls, he'd hesitated, not because he didn't trust Erin but because he didn't think it was particularly safe for five women to drive from DC to California. Erin had bristled at that and suggested that if he felt that it would be unsafe, he should come along on the trip. To both of their surprises, he agreed and a month later they'd left Washington with the city of San Francisco as their final destination, although he didn't know _how _they were going to get to Frisco and back in two weeks since it was already day three of their trip and they hadn't made it through Louisville Kentucky yet. Since the large SUV was a rental, he knew if worse came to worse they could leave it in California and fly home.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw signs for Louisville. "Hey, we're about to hit a city, where does everyone want to stop for lunch?"

"Chipotle!" Ellen said.

"Five Guys," Katie voted.

"Wendy's," Clara chimed in.

"McDonalds!" Allie begged.

"Greens to Go," Erin said.

Dave gave serious thought to jumping out of the car and if he hadn't been driving, he might have done just that. Instead, he gripped the steering wheel tightly and counted to ten. As he hit number nine, he saw the answer to his prayers. Cutting across three lanes of traffic, he took the exit ramp as fast as he dared and a minute later, he pulled into the parking lot of a large mall.

"Here," he said as he parked at the food court entrance, "Now everyone can get what they want."

"But there's no Five Guys," Katie whined.

"And there isn't a Chipotle," Ellen complained as they all exited the SUV.

"Tough," Dave said firmly. "There's a large enough selection that most of us will be happy."

As he held the doors open for the women, his daughter passed him and he could hear her muttering under her breath about it being her birthday in a couple of days and she should get to pick where they eat. He ignored it and handed the two older girls some cash so they could get their food while he and Erin helped the two younger ones.

After they ate, they all agreed that they could make St. Louis by the end of the day, so Clara and Erin went off to research hotels on Clara's iPhone while Ellen, Katie and Allie used the restroom. Dave just sat at the table, closed his eyes and enjoyed his moment of solitude. The moment was cut short when he heard someone sit down next to him. Opening his eyes, he flashed his daughter a tired smile.

"How's the arm?" He asked when he saw her rubbing it.

"It's fine, it just aches a little every now and then." Katie's cast had been removed less than two months ago and she found that her arm acted as sort of a weather predictor and she knew it would rain within the next few hours.

"Thanks for coming along on this trip," she continued. "It means a lot to me."

"I'd do anything for you, Belle," her dad said.

"Seriously though, I really appreciate the effort you've been making to get to know my sisters and you and mom hardly ever argue anymore."

Dave wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. "I love you Katie Belle, and if your mother and sisters are important to you, then they're important to me. I never want you to feel like you have to choose between your families, okay?

Katie was about to respond back, but at that moment her mother and sisters all re-joined them at the table. "We should probably head out if we want to make St. Louis by nightfall," Erin said and they all nodded in agreement. They cleaned up their trash and headed for the doors.

As Dave once again held the door open for the women, he thought about the changes that had occurred in the past year and shook his head slightly; for better or for worse, they were all one big happy family.

* * *

_A/N 2: Note from Ilovetvalot and Tonnie2001969 regarding the 2011 Profiler Choice Awards:_

_For whatever reason, ff . net disabled the Profiler's Choice Awards PM system. That means all attempts to submit ballots failed from September 11 - 16. Anyone who tried to submit a ballot during this period listed above should RESEND their submissions. I am very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. _


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